Why it matters

Daniel Johnson was a surgeon in the Bengal medical service (assistant surgeon 1789, surgeon 1805, retired 1809) who wrote up decades of upcountry experience as one of the earlier first-hand English accounts of Indian hunting, chiefly tiger and leopard in the Ramghur districts. Beyond sport it is an observational source on local practice — snake-catching by the people the book calls 'Cunjoors,' and remarks on hydrophobia and rabid animals — which is why it turns up in Indian travel and natural-history collections as much as sporting ones.

Why we're looking

At $500 from an ABAA house, this sits meaningfully under the only firmly priced 1822 first edition currently visible ($666 at Shapero), and the copy is described as uncut with the original paper spine label present — a more original-state copy than the rebound examples on the market.

Watch out for

Condition is given only as 'Used (unspecified grade),' so the frontispiece, boards, and spine label all need to be asked about directly — and the phrase 'original paper spine label bound in' is ambiguous as to whether the book is in its original boards or has been rebound with the label preserved. Two dealer descriptions of 1822 copies (Shapero; MFR Rare Books) note a 'Description of the Frontispiece' slip bound in before the introduction, which this listing does not mention; worth confirming whether it is present. Also confirm it is the 1822 issue rather than the 1827 second edition, which was retitled 'Sketches of Indian Field Sports,' runs xii, 295 pp., adds an account of hunting the wild boar, and carries four engraved plates in addition to the frontispiece.