E-mail: info@iskandarbooks.com

Differences of the various editions of Voyages dans l'Inde

Author: Iskandar Books
Category: Prince Alexis Soltykoff

Below is a table with the names of the engravers of the lithographs as they appear in the various octavo editions of 'Voyages dans l'Inde'.
We have divided the editions by L. Curmer and V. Lecou (C&L) as well as the editions by Garnier Frères (Garnier) in first and second issues. This division is based on the names of the engravers of the plates.

After the publication of the folio edition of 'Voyages dans l'Inde', done by De Rudder apparently Trayer was commisioned to do the work for the publication of 'Habitants de l’Inde' by the Parisian publisher H. Gache.
There is no year of publication of this book, but it definitely was published before May 1853 (please see under Habitants de l’Inde).

In what we define as the first issue there are no plates done by Trayer, however, in what we define as the second issue there are several plates done by Trayer. Possibly prince Saltykov requested Trayer to redo some of the plates of the octavo edition, although this is just guessing.

It leaves us with the very interesting issue of the years of publication of the C&L and Garnier editions. Both variants of the C&L edition have the imprint 'Deuxième edition', whereas both variants of the Garnier editions have the imprint 'Troisième edition'.
There are no copies in institutional libraries worldwide of a first edition by C&L, neither are there any auction records of a first edition. So it seems reasonable to assume that the 1848 Amyot edition of 'Lettres sur l'Inde' was considered to be the first edition of 'Voyages dans l'Inde', though it has 32 plates only.
Consequently the C&L editions are a second edition and the Garnier editions a third edition. But when were they published? Only the Amyot edition has the imprint '1848' on the title page, while the other editions are undated.
Generally it is assumed that the C&L edition, first issue, was published in 1850, maybe 1851. Most likely the second issue was published in 1851 as well. For the Garnier editions the years 1853, 1854 and 1858 are mentioned, though nobody knows for sure.
The main difference between the two editions is that te C&L editions were published in two volumes sometimes bound as one (Vol. I, pp. 227; Vol. II pp. 267), while the Garnier editions were published in one volume only (pp. 456).

Some of the copies published by C&L, bound as one, appeared in an ornate binding, while a few of the copies by Garnier were bound in that same luxurious binding.

There can be no doubt that the publishers worked in close collaboration. Given the use of the bindings and more importantly the sequence of the various issues where it concerns the plates done by Trayer possibly these editions were published simultaneously.

There are some peculiar deviations, however.
Plate numbered 6 in the table here below ('Ceylan entre Colombo et Kandy'), has been redone by Trayer only in the second C&L issue, however, with a different title ('Villageois Cingalis'), as well as the plate numbered 7 with a slightly amended title as well, while the plate numbered 33 ('Achat d'Armes a Delhi') in the first issue by Garnier was done by Cupper, while in all other cases the stones done by De Rudder were used.

So, there still are issues to be resolved.

The names of the engravers of the plates in the subsequent editions are listed in the table below.

The names of the engravers mentioned in the table are abbreviated as follows:

C   = Cupper
G   = Gerlier
L = Lehnert
M   = Marchais
Ro = Robineau
Ru = De Rudder
T   = Trayer
W = Walter

Amyot

C&L

Garnier

1st issue

2nd issue

1st issue

2nd issue

1 Route entre Colombo et Kandy. Ceylan.

2 Ballet Dramatique.

3 Offrande d'un Chef Kandien a un Temple de Bouddha aux environs de Kandy (Ceylan).

4 Prêtres de Boudha Cingalis a Kandy (Ceylan).

5 Fete de la Lune a Ceylan.

6 Ceylan entre Colombo et Kandy.

7 Village de Gatiganawa a neuf milles de Kandy a Ceylan habité par les Rodias, exilés du tems des Rois de Kandy.

8 Procession religieuse dans les Galeries du Convent de Ramisseram pres Ceylan.

9 Procession Religieuse a Madras.

Anon

10 Condjeveram, Ville Sainte dans le Karnatik aux environs de Madras, lieu de Pélerinage des Indous.

Anon

11 Intérieur du Convent de Condgeveram, a 40 milles de Madras.

12 Une Pagode a Madura.

13 Éléphants du Radja de Travancore. Travandrum.

14 Procession de la Déesse Kali.

15 Les Bords du Gange, près de Calcutta.

Anon

16 Environs de Calcutta.

17 Village Bengali des Bords du Gange.

18 Principale Rue de Luknow, Capitale du Royaume D'Aoude.

19 Voyage en Poste dans les Plaines du Pandjab entre Loudiana et Omritsar.

20 Une Rue de Lahore.

21 Schir Sing Roi du Pandjab et sa suite allant a la chasse aux environs de Lahore.

22 Schir Sing revenant d'une Revue de Troupes aux environs D'Omritsar.

23 Habitation Européenne a Simla.

24 Temple Rustique aux environs de Simla, dans L'Himalaya près de la Cascade appelée l'Alpini.

25 Forêt de Mahassou près de Simla

26 Vallée du Kanaour dans l'Himalaya aux environs de Tchini Gong.

27 Danse Cachemirienne pris de Simla

28 Déota ou Temple Payen. Vallée du Kanaour.

29 Bords de L'Indus a Saccar Baccar. Le Matin.

30 Chasse aux Éléphants dans la Forêt de Karnigal.

31 La Cour du Roi de Gwalior.

32 Aux environs de Tchini Gong

33 Achat d'Armes a Delhi.

34 Cortège du Grand Mogol, à Delhi

35 Arbre Bahnian dans le Paria Djungle.

36 Arbre Banian sur la Lisière du Paria Djungle.