Hardcover, colour photos placed on the front and back covers, laminated finish, with dust jacket, entitled "Indian Princely Medals: A Record of the Orders, Decorations and Medals of the Indian Princely States", by Tony McClenaghan, copyrighted by the author in 1996, published by Lancer Publishers & Distributors of New Delhi, India, along with Spantech & Lancer of South Godstone, Surrey, England and Hartford, Wisconsin, United States of America, printed by Rakmo Press Private Limited of New Delhi, ISBN 1 897829 19 1. As stated on the dust jacket: "Prior to Indian independence and partition there were some 560 Indian or Princely States covering approximately half the geographical area and accounting for a quarter of the population of the Indian Empire. As times changed and it became more difficult for the Princes to grant land as a reward for good service, some of them attempted to introduce a series of orders, decorations and medals to recognize the efforts of their subjects. The British were generally opposed to the idea, arguing that the sovereign was the fount of all honour and the British Empire had only one sovereign, the King-Emperor. This book traces the arguments for and against the States creating a medallic honours system and identifies 266 honours created by 45 States, as well as 4 created by the Sikh Empire. Some of the medals are known by reference to a ribbon only but many have been photographed and described in detail, with inscriptions translated into English." It begins with a Table of Contents, followed by a Preface. The book is divided into forty-eight chapters: 1. An Historical Perspective; 2. The Sikh Empire; 3. Bahawalpur; 4. Balsan; 5. Baroda; 6. Bharatpur; 7. Bhavnagar; 8. Bhopal; 9. Bhor; 10. Bikaner; 11. Bundi; 12. Burdwan; 13. Cooch Behar; 14. Danta; 15. Datia; 16. Dewas Junior Branch; 17. Dewas Senior Branch; 18. Dhar; 19. Dhrangadhra; 20. Faridkot; 21. Gwalior; 22. Hyderabad; 23. Indore; 24. Jaipur; 25. Jammu and Kashmir; 26. Jawhar; 27. Jind; 28. Jodhpur (Marwar); 29. Kapurthala; 30. Kishangarh; 31. Kolhapur; 32. Mandi; 33. Mysore; 34. Nawanagar; 35. Patiala; 36. Porbandar; 37. Pudukkottai; 38. Rampur; 39. Ratlam; 40. Rewah; 41. Sachin; 42. Sirmur (Nahan); 43. Sirohi; 44. Tonk; 45. Travancore; 46. Tripura; 47. Udaipur (Mewar); 48. Unidentified. It concludes with a thirteen page Index and a five page Bibliography, with an Errata insert sheet referencing four pages. The book contains 290 pages, with colour images of various awards placed on the inside front and back covers and their facing endpapers, the bulk of the book printed in black ink, on a white paper stock, with eight pages of colour plates inserted between pages 144 and 145 (the first seven pages with ribbon swatches, the eighth page with an assortment of orders and medals), printed on a coated white paper stock, measuring 217 mm (w) x 277 mm (h) x 22 mm (d). It exhibits slight weakness in the binding where the endpapers meet the bulk of the pages, exposing the underlying white mesh support, along with undulation of the front cover and light discolouration along the bottom edge of the pages from having been exposed to a blue-coloured book shelf divider. Very fine.
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