Octavo. Original orange embossed cloth title, gilt to spine, gilt block of an Indian horseman to the upper board, all edges gilt. Two-tint lithographic portrait frontispiece - the Nawab of Surat - printed within an ornate printed gold border half-title printed in gold with the image of the official seal and signet of the Nawab title page printed in blue. Six hand-coloured single-tint lithographic plates of costume and three single-tint lithographs of views eight steel-engraved illustrations to the text. The title page explains that the illustrations are from Original Drawings by the Author" one picture is credited to her husband, "the late Capt. Postans" the two other views are not credited, but the costume studies are captioned as the work of E[benezer] Landells we presume that Landells "worked up" Young's sketches. Some light foxing and browning cloth is a little rubbed and soiled but remains an attractive copy. First Edition. Uncommon; COPAC has BL Oxford and Cambridge only just eight on OCLC. The wife of an officer of the Bengal Light Infantry Postans husband's postings to various little-known parts of India Cutch the Deccan Surat and Sind provided opportunities to research and write a series of books in which she set out "... to popularize information about India. She sought to remedy Britain's lack of interest in India by clothing in more alluring form the facts which she had obtained through firsthand experience often in little-known areas; she was aided in her research by her fluent Hindustani. Although she was scholarly in her interests, she wore her learning lightly, and her writing is marked by liveliness and the personal voice of the author." [ODNB] Having returned to England after the death of her husband in 1846 in 1848, she married an army surgeon and traveled to the Crimea with him publishing an account of her experiences Our Camp in Turkey and the Way to it in 1854. In the present work, her last, she went back to her experiences in India "... calling among other things for greater sympathy between British and Indians. However, her call met a cold response after the Indian mutiny, and the work was poorly received." This copy inscribed on the front free endpaper "Mr. A Dyce Sombre from H.H. the Prince of Surat. Sent to me by His Highness on the eve of Sept. 8/57 after I had taken leave of him." Dyce Sombre was evidently a relative of David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre, the Germano-Indian "traveler and putative lunatic" and heir to the Begum of Sardhana. There is no hint to this effect in Postans' ODNB entry, but the lavish and somewhat quirky printing might suggest when taken along with the frontis. "From a photograph in possession of His Highness Meer Jafur" that this was in some way a vanity publication." Coloured plates in order: 1. His Highness Meer Jafur Alee and his Secretary. 2. Title page. 3. Sheik Khoob. (from life) 4. Parsee Lady. (from life) 5. Parbutti Dhobun. (from life) 6. Native Pedlars. (from life) 7. Hadjie Ahmed Borah. (from life) 8. The Fort, Surat. 9. French Tower near Surat. 10. Dowlutabad. 11. Vindia Purdasi. (Mangoe Seller) (from life)