Presentation inscription in volume 1: William Jackson from Randle Jackson Esqre.

Dedicatory epistle in volume 2: from William Jackson to his relations.

Binding: volume 1, original full red morocco, marbled endpapers. Stationer's label: Sold by Dunn & Co., Stationers, No. 9, Fleet Street.

Binding: volume 2, original three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards with gilt spine, marbled endpapers. Stationer's label: Pengeley, Mortimer & Co. Booksellers-Stationers-Binders-Engravers, Etc. Depot for Europe & China Goods. No. 13 Old Court House Street Calcutta.

Holograph diary of William Jackson's voyage to and first weeks in India, apparently as an employee of the East India Company. Jackson describes shipboard life and his fellow passengers, including John Herbert Harrington and Sir Henry Blosset; a funeral at sea and a shipboard play; port calls at Funchal, the Bay of Bengal, and Fort William; and his arrival in Calcutta. The diary contains detailed description of the architecture of Calcutta, particularly of the British government buildings and the East India Company offices; the Botanical Gardens; Jackson's daily routine; the various types of Englishmen resident in Calcutta and social occasions spent in their company; a Hindu wedding "up the country" and encounters with several rajahs; and his impressions of the differences between Hindus and Muslims in India.

Volume 2 is a corrected and annotated version of the text of the original diary in Volume 1; it is illustrated with a frontispiece of the "front side of Governor's House" in pen and ink, a pencil drawing of the "south side" of the same building, and small pen and ink sketches of architectural details and a hookah.

British > India.

Calcutta (India) > Buildings, structures, etc.

Calcutta (India) > Description and travel.

Calcutta (India) > Social life and customs.

India > Description and travel.

India > History > British occupation, 1765-1947.

India > Social life and customs.

Diaries.

Drawings (visual works)