Ramaseeana, or a Vocabulary of the Peculiar Language Used by the Thugs, with an introduction and appendix, descriptive of the system pursued by that fraternity and of the measures which have been adopted by the Supreme Government of India for its suppression
Calcutta: G.H. Huttmann, Military Orphan Press, 1836. Hardcover. First edition. Sir William Henry "Thuggee" Sleeman (1788 - 1856) sailed to India to work for the East India Company early in life. He fought in the Gorkha War, remained in India, and joined a British campaign to investigate and prosecute "the Thugs" in Central India. "The Thugs" were a group of people notorious for befriending travelers, then robbing and murdering them. Sleeman spent most of his military career studying and apprehending thugs. This book collects correspondence between Sleeman and various informants, depositions, accounts of crimes committed and arrests, observations about the Thugs, lists of Thug families, and a list of Thug vocabulary with definitions. Bound in blue cloth covered boards. Professionally rebacked using the original spine and boards. Spine has faded to tan and boards are dark blue. Original paper title label to spine. Some soiling and rubbing to spine and boards. Wear and fraying to corners and edges of boards. Light dampstain to top and bottom margins of some pages. Sporadic foxing and occasional pencil markings. Includes three fold-out genealogies, some with short closed tears. It is missing the called for fourth leaf and the five page preface. 270 pages plus 514 pages of appendices. The last page, 515, of the appendix section is missing. Still an desirable copy of this scarce study of the infamous Thugs of India. (Text pages of the preface and 515 are provided in facsimlie.) IND/070722. Very Good. More