Octavo. Original royal blue embossed cloth title and panels gilt to spine attractive gilt device of an elephant tossing a tiger to the upper board all edges gilt. Hand-coloured lithographic frontispiece. Prize bookplate of Amblecote Training School to the front pastedown together with penciled genealogical notes on the recipient Joseph Richards. A little rubbed with slight fraying head and tail of the spine light browning else very good. FIRST EDITION. Although it has the appearance of a juvenile, perhaps seemingly confirmed by the presence of a prize bookplate, this book is, in fact, an abbreviation of the family annals of Nawab Bahawal Khan. It was abridged at Bahawalpur by Peer Ibrahim Khan, the British native agent there at the request of Captain J. D. Cunningham." On Cunningham's appointment to Bhopal in 1846, the author "became aware that he had some valuable Oriental MSS in his possession and asked him to give me some work in which I might employ my leisure hours usefully to myself and to the public." Evidently part of Cunningham's work towards his controversial History of the Sikhs, this interesting monograph on Punjabi history was originally issued under the title of The History of Bahawalpur but here has been retitled and enhanced with a "picturesque" frontispiece and perhaps blocking to encourage sales. Uncommon and attractive. Colour plate: 1. Hindoo / Ceylonese / Birman.