{"product_id":"allen-s-indian-mail-official-gazette-from-british-nnuqdgoa","title":"Allen's Indian Mail and Official Gazette from British \u0026 Foreign India, China, \u0026 All Parts of the East.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA near-complete two year run of 94 issues this important gazette, replete with information about the British doings in Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, the Middle and Far East, occasionally also touching on the South Pacific and Australia. Published by W. H. Allen \u0026amp; Co., the newspaper, which was founded in 1843, was consistent with their focus on the colonial market. The back pages of each issue served as advertising space for their other publications, including their \u003cem\u003eIndian Army and Civil Service List,\u003c\/em\u003e and Duncan Forbes’s \u003cem\u003eHindustani Works\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe years following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 saw rapid change in the structure of the British Raj, and \u003cem\u003eAllen’s Indian Mail\u003c\/em\u003e was the perfect vehicle through which interested parties in Great Britain could keep updated on colonial events, passenger arrivals and departures, military matters, births, marriages and deaths, stocks and securities, and all manner of pertinent advertisements. The numbers were issued roughly but not quite weekly (though occasionally bi- or tri-weekly), with the variation presumably influenced by the frequency of mail ships returning with the relevant news. The contents of each number is divided into sections and regions, with a typical 20pp issue comprising: Summary and Review; Bengal; Madras; Bombay; China; The Straits; Central Asia; Official Gazette; Domestic; Original Articles; Home; Books; Stocks and Securities. This was, of course, also subject to change dependant upon from where the paper could source relevant news.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis set was once in the library of the Royal United Services Institute, founded in 1831. As such, it was probably collected by the institute at the time of publication, by subscription. Given the amount of information on the Indian Army and other matters of foreign affairs, members of the RUSI almost certainly found this to be an invaluable reference. There are periodically updated tables listing “H.M.’s British Regiments Stationed in India”, purporting to have been compiled exclusively for the publication.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAmongst the military dispatches there are updates on the Second Opium War, in which many Indian and Sikh soldiers fought for the British Army against the Chinese. There are also regular reports on Indian domestic affairs. The personal ads also offer a fascinating glimpse of the economies surrounding the colonial machine. Alongside notices of relevant publications there are solicitations for ships’ crews, positions sought for governesses, companions and tutors, parcel services, climate appropriate and military specialist outfitters, patent medicines for tropical ailments, dental preparations, and for the traveller missing the flavours of India: curry powder.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThough there are a number of institutional holdings for the paper listed in OCLC, it’s hard to parse the actual extent of their runs, and to clearly differentiate physical from microfiche or digital copies. There are only two records in RareBookHub for any sort of run of issues, the first from 1976 in a mixed lot at Sotheby’s: numbers 61-91, 1846-47, and the second nos 47-52 covering February-May 1846, at Bonhams in 2007.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67908326621493,"sku":"264514","price":5000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/264514_01.jpg?v=1792728082","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/allen-s-indian-mail-official-gazette-from-british-nnuqdgoa","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}