LATIF, Syed Muhammad. Agra Historical & Descriptive, with an Account of Akbar and his Court and of the Modern City of Agra. Illustrated with Portraits of the Moghul Emperors and Drawings of the Principal Architectural Monuments of that City and its Suburbs. Kolkata, Calcutta Central Press Company, 1896.
Royal 8vo. Original black pebble-grained cloth, spine lettered in gilt; pp. [2], viii, [2], 308,lLithographic folding plan of Agra as frontispiece and 46 lithographic plates, minimal worming to binding and to the final four leaves, final page a little dusted; a very good copy in the original publisher's binding and with the plan which is usually missing (6 plates listed in the book not present, as in two digitized copies consulted; these plates never issued); engraved armorial bookplate of Robert Barnard inside front cover.
Extremely rare first edition. 'The knowledge of western historiography advanced in India by English educated Indian scholars. During the nineteenth century one historical work relating to Punjab’s history appeared in English and this was produced not by a European but by a Punjabi native historian his name was Syed Muhammad Latif … Syed Muhammad Latif passed away in 1902 at a relatively young age of 51 at Lahore. In his short but eventful life, he rose to command great respect in Muslim, British and Hindu literary circles. After the death of Syed Muhammad Latif, the Bazaar inside Bhatti Gate, Lahore in Pakistan Punjab was named, as Bazaar Judge Muhammad Latif. At the early stage of historiography in modern India Syed Muhammad Latif appeared with a rare historical insight' (Muhammad Shafique, Syed Muhammad Latif: A Pioneer Man of Regional Historiography of Punjab in: Journal of Indian Studies Vol. 4, No. 1, January – June 2018, online).
WorldCat locates copies at SOAS and in the British Library only.
#2120426