1818 Calcutta Printed Almanac with contemporary ownership signature of George Richardson - Assistant to the Commercial Resident for the East India Company at Haripal (Hurripaul) and Golagore

1818 Calcutta Printed almanac with contemporary ownership signature of George Richardson - Assistant to the Commercial Resident for the East India Company at Haripal (Hurripaul) and Golagore

"The Calcutta Annual Register and Directory, for the Year of our Lord 1818; or, Civil, Military, Medical, and Marine Lists of the Presidency of Bengal; with an Almanack, and an Appendix: Containing Regulations of the Custom House, Treasury, Post Office, Bank, Pension and Life Insurance Funds, Union, Laudable and Provident Societies, Calcutta Tontine Lists of the Law Department, College, Asiatic Society, and Public Charities; Complete Calcutta Lists; List of Former Governors; List of Shipping, etc. Calcutta, 1818."

-Large 8vo (230 × 140 mm).

-Complete. [2], vi, [18], 174, 204, 10, xv, [1], iii, [1]pp

-Original blue boards with half leather binding (worn with bumps to boards)

-Contemporary fore-edge inscription "" XX DUTIES XX "" 

-Printed in Calcutta by "Scott & Co at the India Gazette Press" on Chinese paper (paper fragile with a few chips and tears here and there)

-1818

This uncommon early Calcutta-printed almanac contains a wealth of information on the civil, military and commercial life of the Bengal Presidency. It includes detailed lists of European residents, East India Company officials, shipping, public institutions and administrative regulations.

Printed in Calcutta on Chinese paper, the book retains its contemporary binding. This copy is particularly notable for its fore-edge inscription "Duties" and contemporary annotations, showing that it served as a working reference volume.

The contemporary ownership inscription inside the front board reads “Geo. Richardson, Calcutta, May 10, 1818.” Richardson served as Assistant to the Commercial Resident at Haripal (Hurripaul) and Golagore under Robert Richardson, and is listed in the directory itself as “assistant to the commercial resident at Gulagore and Hurripaul.” As noted in the contemporary history of the Bengal Commercial Residency system:

“From 1807 to 1820 Robert Richardson was Commercial Resident at Haripal, with George Richardson, from their respective standing in the service, probably his son or nephew, as assistant…”

Rare. OCLC records only a single institutional copy, held by the British Library.