Bengal Club: a Victorian bookplate

The Victorian bookplate of the Bengal Club Library, measuring 4 x 3 ins, is printed on pink paper and was retrieved from beneath a later example printed on white paper, which had been removed from a decaying old volume of a journal.    feb16/1

The Bengal Club dates from the late 1820s and was initially open almost exclusively to senior military and East India Company civil officers and had distinguished presidents including such famous names in Raj history as Metcalf, Cotton, Frere, Outram, and in one case a Governor General – Lord Ellenborough. The Club has adapted to modern society but retains its magnificent premises on Chowringhee and is one of the most important clubs in Calcutta [now Kolkata] and one of the oldest in the world.