Contes Indiens

1883, Les Trente-deux Recits du Trone (Batris-Sinhasan / Singhasan Battisi)

Author

Leon Feer

Publisher

Ernest Leroux, Paris, 1883

Printing Details

First French edition, hardback rebound in brown cloth with contrasting title label to spine. 16 × 10.5cm, lxxiv + 258pp. French text.

Full title: Contes Indiens. Les Trente-deux Recits du Trone (Batris-Sinhasan) on Les Merveilleux Exploits de Vikramaditya.

The sixth volume in the Collection de Chansons et de Contes Populaires series published by Leroux, this book contains the Singhasan Battisi, a collection of 32 Indian folk tales in which the 11th century king Bhoja discovers the throne of the legendary ancient king Vikramaditya . The throne has 32 statues, who are actually apsaras (a female spirit) that had been turned into stone due to a curse. Each of the apsaras tells Bhoja a story about the life and adventures of Vikramaditya, in order to convince him that he is not deserving of Vikramaditya's throne.

Condition

A good copy. The binding has some light blotchy fading to the boards but the contents are in good order. The inner binding is secure and the pages clean bar some browning to the margins.