Oriental Field Sports: Being a Complete and Accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East

Captain Thomas Williamson, Oriental Field Sports: Being a Complete and Accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East: and exhibiting, in a novel and interesting manner, the natural history of the elephant, the rhinoceros, the tiger, the leopard, the bear, the deer, the buffalo, the wolf, the wild hog, the jackall, the wild dog, the civet, and other undomesticated animals, as likewise the different species of feathered game, fishes and serpents: the whole interspersed with a variety of original, authentic, and curious anecdotes ... the scenery gives a faithful representation of the picturesque country, together with the manners and customs of both the native and European inhabitants: the narrative is divided into forty heads, forming collectively a complete work, but so arranged that each part is a detail of one of the forty coloured engravings. The whole taken from the manuscript and designs of Captain Thomas Williamson ... ; the drawings by Samuel Howett [sic], London: William Bulmer and Co., for Edward Orme, 1808, 1st edition

(2 Volumes in 1)
Volume I: xiv and 306 pages including engraved vignette title page and 20 engraved plates
Volume II: [iv] and 239 pages including engraved vignette title page and 20 engraved plates and 12 index pages at the end
Half leather bound with marbled boards and leather title ticket pasted at the spine with 5 raised bands, marble edges
27.5 x 19 x 5 cm

LIST OF PLATES

VOLUME I
1. Engraved vignette title / 2. Hunters going out in the morning / 3. Beating Sugar Cane for a Hog / 4. The Chase after a Hog / 5. Hog-Hunters meeting by surprise a Tigress & her Cubs / 6. The Hog at Bay / 7. The Dead Hog / 8. The Return from Hog-Hunting / 9. Driving Elephants into a Keddah / 10. Decoy Elephants catching a Male / 11. Decoy Elephants leaving the Male fastened to a tree / 12. A Rhinoceros hunted by Elephants / 13. A Tiger prowling through a village / 14. Shooting a Tiger from a platform / 15. A Tiger seizing a Bullock in a Pass / 16. Driving a Tiger out of a Jungle / 17. Chasing a Tiger across a river / 18. The Tiger at Bay / 19. A Tiger springing upon an Elephant / 20. The Dead Tiger / 21. Shooters coming by surprise upon a Tiger

VOLUME II
22. Engraved vignette title / 23. A Tiger hunted by Wild Dogs / 24. A Tiger killed by a poisoned arrow / 25. Shooting a Leopard in a Tree / 26. Exhibition of a battle between a Buffalo and a Tiger / 27. The Buffalo at Bay / 28. Peacock-shooting / 29. Shooting at the edge of a jungle / 30. Driving a Bear out of Sugar Cane / 31. Death of the Bear / 32. Hunting a Kuttauss, or a Civet Cat / 33. Hunting Jackalls / 34. Chase after a Wolf / 35. The Common Wolf Trap / 36. Smoking Wolves from their Earths / 37. The Ganges breaking its banks: with fishing & c. / 38. Killing Game in Boats / 39. Dooreahs or Dog Keepers leading out Dogs / 40. Syces, or Grooms, leading out Horses / 41. Hunting a Hog Deer / 42. The Hog Deer at Bay

Captain Thomas Williamson was a British officer who served in the British regiment in Bengal for two decades and created sketches of his time in India. These illustrations, as well as his knowledge of sports and wildlife, came to the attention of the Orme family, who engaged English painter Samuel Howitt to create watercolours based on Williamson's sketches. The resulting aquatints portray the vibrant Indian landscape and fauna, including depictions of tigers and majestic elephants, described by the author as possessing "the energy of the horse, the sagacity of the dog, and a large portion of the monkey's cunning." Originally published in 20 parts between 1805 and 1807, the work, as indicated in the preface, explores more than sports, and is offered to the public as depicting the manners, customs, scenery, and costume of a territory now intimately blended with the British Empire. Williamson also authored a travel guide on India titled The East India Vade-Mecum, first published in 1810.

Reference: J R Abbey, Travel in Aquatint and Lithography 1770-1860, 431

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