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Sir John Malcolm, Sketch of the Sikhs; A singular nation, who inhabit the provinces of the Penjab, situated between the rivers Jumna and Indus, London: Printed for John Murray, 1812

198 pages + 3 pages of publisher's advertisements at end; contemporary half calf rebacked to style along with cloth boards, raised bands, gilt lettered at the spine
23.4 x 14.5 x 1.5 cm

"Originally published in the eleventh volume of the Asiatic Researches. However, not being in "common circulation, it is now republished; and may prove acceptable, as a short and clear account of an oriental people, of singular and religion and manners, with whose history the European reader can be but little acquainted". (Advertisement page)

This is the first book on Sikhs ever published in English language. An extremely rare account of Sikhism. A first edition of this elusive account of Sikhism, which served as the foundation for subsequent works on the subject, was authored by a British officer Sir John Malcolm who had personal experience with the Sikhs during his service. This "preliminary effort" (Khurana, p. 22) illuminates a portion of the historical context surrounding the Sikhs, including their homelands, government, and religion.

Sir John Malcolm (1769-1833) was a diplomatist and administrator in India. He landed at Madras in 1783 at the age of 14, and soon taught himself Persian and moved into diplomacy. By all accounts an autodidact, he studied the history of India and the formation of the British Empire. "By deliberately undertaking these endeavors, young Malcolm matured into a complete individual" (Khurana, p. 18) who wrote several books, of which his History of Persia, "brought him an honorary doctorate of laws from Oxford" (ODNB). Writing about the Sikh community "at a juncture when the British were actively trying to befriend the Sikhs" (Khurana, p. 20), Malcom's objective was to raise awareness of the Sikh culture and the lack of reliable information about it. Khurana points out that "his taking up of a subject so little known to most of his contemporaries is a contribution in itself" (p. 31). His work not only taught his contemporaries, but also had a "considerable impact on the subsequent writers of Sikh history" (ibid.). More widely, "Malcolm's significance as an ideologue lay in the fact that his works gave a historical consciousness and a rhetoric to the empire-building militarism of the first three decades of the nineteenth century" (Harrington).

Despite its substantial institutional representation, this work is legitimately rare, having garnered only six auction records since the 1950s.

Reference: Jack Harrington, "Sir John Malcolm and the Creation of British India", 2010, p. 189; Gianeshwar Khurana, "British Historiography on the Sikh Power in the Punjab", 1985; Perkins p. 471; John F Riddick, "Who Was Who in British India", p. 240.

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