THORNHILL, Mark. Personal Adventures and Experiences of a Magistrate. During the Rise, Progress, and Suppression of the Indian Mutiny. London: John Murray. 1884.
8vo. Original cloth, lettered in gilt, ornamented in brown; pp. vi, 334, [2], 32 (publisher's catalogue) wood-engraved frontispiece and folding plan of Fort Agra; light rubbing to cloth, only a little spotted internally, ownership inscription Noel Thornhill (related to the author?) on title-page and half-title (the latter partly erased, resulting in a small hole), another ownership inscription to initial blank.
First edition of a first-hand and gripping account of the Indian Mutiny as it unfolded in and around Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, were the author had been a magistrate.
Thornhill describes the ensuing events including a night ride to Agra through the rebel army and the developing tensions inside the fort. Richard Sorsky expressed the opinion 'of all the books written regarding the Mutiny not one is more interesting' (The Sepoy Mutiny).
It has been suggested that Thornhill's book, especially the detailed account of the events in Agra, served as a source for Arthur Conan Doyle's second novel featuring Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of the Four of 1890. More recently the book became one of the sources for J. G. Farrell's The Siege of Krishnapur.
SKU: 2123697