Prinseps auction: Bid for first-edition rare books and documents from the Indian Independence Movement

Calcutta Municipal Gazette: 23rd Anniversary and Indian Commemoration number - Dec 1947

Edited and signed by Amal Home, and published in the important year of 1947

Provenance: Rathindranath Tagore - Mira Chatterjee Estate

Portraits of Mahatma Gandhi by Mukul Dey, 1948

A first-edition work by an important artist from Santiniketan from when he first met Mahatma Gandhi in 1918.

Provenance: Estate of Rathindranath Tagore and Meera Chatterjee

Collected works of Mahatma Gandhi 

This tome spans about 40 years of Gandhi's life, and the lot offers 70 of the 100 volumes. It's very rare to find so many volumes being sold. Singular volumes are being offered by other book sellers for about Rs60,000, so 70 volumes being sold at one time all together is a good opportunity for collectors. This is a first-edition print.

The collection includes Gandhi’s writings, letters, essays, notes and interviews. The collection goes into great detail over 100 volumes about the time when Indian was under British rule and was fighting for independence.

Provenance: Private Collection

Harijan Sevak by Mahatma Gandhi - 1953-54

Extremely rare to find, the Hindi version of Harijan, the weekly newsletter, was suspended during the Indian satyagraha movement in 1940. It discusses untouchability.

In 1932, when Gandhi was arrested, his journal Young India was discontinued. To popularise the Harijan movement, Gandhi decided to introduce a new journal under the same name of Harijan.

The first issue appeared on the 11th of February 1933 from Poona with R. V. Shastri as the editor.

Provenance: Private Collection

Volume 17, no. 1 -52.

Mahatma: Life of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi - 8 volumes - D G Tendulkar

A rare compilation of Mahatma Gandhi's letters, which tell the story of his life through correspondence between August 1942 and April 1944. 

Provenance: Private Collection

The Springing Tiger - A Study of Subhas Chandra Bose by Hugh Toye, 1959

A first-edition book that displays the British perspective, The Springing Tiger is a historical account of the The Indian National Army published by British Colonel Hugh Toye. Toye worked as an intelligence officer in Burma during World War II. He was tasked with interrogating the The Indian National Army. This book details the formation of theThe Indian National Army, its revival, and leadership by Subhas Chandra Bose, fights in Imphal and Kohima and the death of Bose. This a rare account and unbiased account of a British officer in the army.

Provenance: Private Collection

The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru - 1946

The first edition of Nehru's autobiography, written when he was imprisoned.

Provenance: Rathindranath Tagore - Mira Chatterjee Estate

The poster of Sardar Vallabhai Patel is another print published by Shyam Sunder Lal Agarwal. The original work was made by Rup Kishor Kapur; his works were regularly engraved and printed by Shyam Sunder Lal at Kanpur. Patel was the first Deputy Prime Minister of India and was the leader of the Indian National Congress and is considered to be one of the founders of the Republic of India. He contributed to India’s struggle for  independence and helped integrate its separate parts into one nation. The poster on the right is of Srimati Sarojini Naidu

Provenance: Private Collection

Subhas Chandra Bose Calendar, 1946 by Shiri Talashilkar. Posters made in the 1940s were often mass-produced, and became an easy way to inform the public. They often were nationalistic in character and were used to unite the masses against the British colonisers.

Provenance: Private Collection