BURTON, Isabel.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the first blank, "From the Authoress, To F. F. Arbuthnot. July 28th 1893." Forster Fitzgerald Arbuthnot, one of Richard Burton's closest friends, collaborated with him on two translations for their fictitious Kama Shastra Society, and he was the dedicatee of the fourth volume of Burton's Arabian Nights.Born in India, Arbuthnot (1833-1901) had a 25-year career in the Bombay Civil Service, before retiring to Britain to pursue a scholarly career. With Burton, he published The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana (1883) and Ananga-ranga: (Stage of the Bodiless One) or, The Hindu Art of Love (1885), and he was an active member of the Royal Asiatic Society. Penzer alludes to the speed at which Isabel Burton compiled her Life, and this perhaps explains why Arbuthnot is incorrectly identified in the text as "Frederick Foster Arbuthnot."

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.