Jodhpur

Jodhpur Government Press, Jodhpur, 1938

Containing a large folding map of Jodhpur State, together with numerous halftone illustrations depicting palaces, forts, civic buildings, industrial sites, and scenes of courtly and public life. The map of size 33 x 33 cm is typically lithographed and coloured in outline; illustrations produced by letterpress and halftone blocks; original printed wrappers or cloth binding
8.8 x 5.7 in (22.5 x 14.5 cm)

A scarce 1938 Jodhpur Government Press publication documenting the princely state through maps, architectural views and administrative illustrations—an important late-colonial record of Marwar’s urban, political and cultural identity on the eve of Independence

This scarce 1938 publication by the Jodhpur Government Press constitutes one of the most revealing printed statements of princely-state identity during the closing decade of the British Raj. Produced at a moment when the political future of India was under active negotiation, the volume combines cartographic, architectural, administrative, and cultural imagery to present the state of Jodhpur—historic Marwar—in a form suited to both internal documentation and external ceremonial or diplomatic use.

Founded in 1459 by Rao Jodha of the Rathore Rajput clan, Jodhpur long served as the capital of the Kingdom of Marwar and remained one of Rajputana’s principal centres of courtly and architectural tradition. Set against the stark landscape of the Thar Desert, the city’s monumental identity—dominated by Mehrangarh Fort and the distinctive blue-painted quarters of the old city—formed an enduring emblem of Rajput sovereignty and continuity. By the early twentieth century, Jodhpur stood among the most prominent princely capitals of northern India, soon to be integrated into the modern state of Rajasthan after Independence.

The volume is anchored by a large folding map of particular historical significance. It delineates the boundaries of Jodhpur State, its district divisions, major road and rail lines, irrigation works, forests, and measurable land areas—information gathered through late-colonial administrative practice and cooperative survey. The map thus reveals how the state framed its geographic, economic, and infrastructural resources within the political landscape of British India.

The accompanying halftone illustrations present a vivid and layered portrait of the kingdom, capturing both historic grandeur and modern aspiration. They depict the commanding presence of Mehrangarh Fort, alongside the sandstone magnificence of Umaid Bhawan Palace, newly completed under Maharaja Umaid Singh. Complementing these landmarks are views of civic institutions—courts, hospitals, schools—reflecting the administrative and social foundations of the state, as well as scenes of industrial modernisation through mills, workshops, and railway facilities, collectively illustrating a princely polity in transition between tradition and twentieth-century modernity.

As the only princely-state publication in this auction, the work occupies a crucial thematic intersection: it bridges the world of nineteenth-century imperial cartography and the imminently changing political order of the subcontinent. Whereas Mughal court prints and British survey maps capture earlier modes of sovereignty and territorial knowledge, this Jodhpur volume represents a princely state’s own self-presentation—an indigenous voice within the cartographic and visual record of Northern India on the eve of Independence and an exceptional documentary survival of Marwar’s urban, political, and cultural identity.

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