[JOHNSON, DANIEL]. Sketches of Field Sports as followed by the Natives of India. With observations on the animals. Also an account of some of the customs of the inhabitants, and natural productions, interspersed with various anecdotes. Likewise the late nawab vizier Asoph ul Dowlah's grand style of sporting and character. A description of the art of catching serpents, as practised by people in India, known by the appellation of Cunjoors, and their method of curing themselves when bitten. With remarks on hydrophobia, & rabid animals. Published for the author by Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, and Thomas Fowler, Great Torrington, Devon, 1822.
Hardcover. First edition. Octavo (235 x 150mm), pp. [x], 261. Publisher's original paper covered boards with spine label. Slip entitled "Description of the Frontispiece" bound in before the Introduction. Engraved frontispiece after Ann Elizabeth Palmer. Rough cut fore edge and bottom edge. Private owner bookplates. Preserved in a custom morocco-backed drop-back box. Binding secure. Spine rubbed and creased. Points rubbed. Covers slightly marked. Very light scattered foxing. Scarce, especially in its original state.
Notes: Rare first edition (in good to very good condition); a second appeared in 1827. Daniel Johnson (1766/7-1835), surgeon and author, "was appointed assistant surgeon in the Bengal medical service on 22 January 1789. He conducted experiments on snakebite, and later communicated his findings to his fellow Bengal surgeon James Johnson. He was promoted to surgeon on 11 March 1805, and retired from the service in 1809. He settled at Great Torrington, Devon, and in 1822 printed, with the aid of a daughter of the local bookseller, 'not more than eight and a half years old', his Sketches of Indian Field-Sports [actually the title of the second edition]. The book was dedicated to the court of directors of the Hon. East India Company" (ODNB). "In this early work detailing Indian sport, Johnson provides notes on elephant, buffalo, and other game, but of primary importance are his chapters on hunting tiger and leopard principally in the jungle ares of Ramghur, Rogonautpore, and Bundbissunpore" (Czech).
