Royal Edition of a scarce work on the visit of HRH The Prince of Wales to India in 1921-22a in 1921-11

Shah, Laxmichand Dowabhai: The Prince of Wales and The Princes of India. Royal Edition. The Kathiawar Printing Works [Rajkot, India] 1st Edition. 11.5 x 9 ins – volume two slightly large than volume one.

Two Volumes. No publication date but clearly shortly after the Prince’s visit ended in 1922. Vol 1: 3 royal portrait plates, approx 250 other illustrations from photographs, xxv, 360pp. Vol 2: Frontispiece portraits of the Royal Family and of the Prince,  approx 200 illustrations from photographs, xxvi, 448pp. This copy is in a very special royal binding of blue velvet covered boards with silver corner decorations and a central silver title plate surmounted by a Prince of Wales’s crest, volume two lacks the velvet but retains the silver mounts a small amount of the missing velvet is included and could be helpful to anyone trying to replace the original coezring of volume 2] and has a little damp staining along the lower margins of the pages, vol 1 has some slight water damage at the outer corners. We have carefully checked every page and all the illustrations are as called for. We have only had two other copies of this important work in 30 years and they have been in the standard blue leather binding. The first 44 pages of vol 1 deal with the Prince’s biography, pp 45 to 132 cover the Prince’s tour in Canada and the rest of volume 1 and the whole of volume 2 cover the Indian tour. The majority of the illustrations, reproduced well from photographs, are portraits including both major and minor ruing princes and other prominent figures both Indian and British. An invaluable reference work.  feb10/2

This was the most comprehensive of a series of tours on which the Prince of Wales was sent by his father, King George V, in preparation for his future as King and Emperor of India. He was to become King Edward VIII briefly before his abdication in favour of his younger brother the Duke of York who, as King George VI, was to be the last Emperor