The Birds Of Asia By John Gould
Continuing our story about the “Jewel in our crown”, our library, this issue brings to you some interesting books on birds, snakes and one on the Nizam’s Dominions as promised. The collection of birds along with their scientific names and their Geographical location was painstakingly collated by the author. These books on Birds were probably procured more than 100 years back for our Library. They consist of 33 Volumes on Birds and one on Snakes. The author transferred his work onto the stone (Lithography) from which prints were made and each hand-coloured individually! The vibrant colours, definition, and dimensions of these prints are simply stupendous. According to informed sources, there are only 4 known sets in India, and ours is one of them. The antiquity and worth of the books made the Club store them in a huge Fire-Proof Safe! Every quarter the Library Sub-Committee brings them out with due ceremony to “air” them and scrutinise them for blemishes. These books were published between the years 1849-1883.
Venomous Snakes Of the Indian Peninsula (The Thantophidia of India)
This book on Venomous Snakes of the Indian Peninsula was written by J. Fayer. This was more for conducting experiments than for general reading!
Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions
This book written by Claude Campbell, in the year 1904, is all about the vast areas ruled by the Asaf Jahis. Its incredible wealth in the form of lands, farms, hills, lakes etc; its diversity of the population, and some magnificent Public and Private buildings. This book was in very poor shape. It was carefully restored at great cost by the “ Salar Jung Museum”, restorers. Surprisingly it was printed and bound by an American Printer Historical Publishing Co; Philadelphia, PA., USA.
