India

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Library has an extensive collection of books about European and American architecture and architectural ornament. This copy of the rare 1834 Essay on the Architecture of the Hindús written by Rám Ráz (1790-1830), a native of India, is not a book you would typically expect to find in the collection. The author compares Hindu architecture with the Greek, Egyptian, or later European architecture that is helpful in understanding sources of design, particularly of temple architecture.

This rare first edition, published in two volumes, is a fascinating series of anecdotes of wildlife and hunting in India told by Captain Thomas Williamson. Williamson served in a British regiment in Bengal and was an avid sportsman while there. Edward Orme (1775-1848), a British engraver, painter, and publisher of illustrated books, spear-headed the publication and commissioned the painter Samuel Howitt (1756-1822) to develop 40 illustrations for the work.

This catalog highlights a spectacular collection of Indian jewels owned by the ruling family of Qatar, the House of Thani. Sheikh Hamad bin Abdullah Al Thani acquired a vast collection of Indian jewelry including some the world’s rarest pieces. He now owns a large number of jeweled objects that originally belonged to India’s Mughal rulers. There is no comparable collection .The catalog itself is also quite stunning, with full-page illustrations of exquisitely detailed Mughal miniatures and intricate jeweled objects.