BULWER-LYTTON, Victor Alexander George Robert, 2nd Earl of Lytton.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Letterpress copy of diaries kept while serving as Governor of Bengal, 11 March 1922 - 31 December 1925. A rare run, the first volume inscribed as the copy of Bulwer-Lytton's wife, Pamela, on the title page. His tenure, including several months as acting viceroy in 1925, coincided with an important period for Indian constitutional reform. "It shook him to realize that Indian nationalists did not want a sympathetic governor" (ODNB). Only 12 copies of each volume were printed.A supporter of the Montagu-Chelmsford Reforms, Bulwer-Lytton reached Bengal in late March 1922 eager to implement their vision of provincial dyarchy. These best-laid plans were derailed by the electoral victory of Chittaranjan Das's recently established Swaraj party in November 1923 and the governor's marginalization of more moderate, pro-Montagu-Chelmsford figures, such as the constitutional reformer Surendranath Roy (1860-1929). Das refused the offer to form a ministry and blocked other appointments, compelling Bulwer-Lytton to govern without ministers for the rest of his term. In response to political violence and sedition, he introduced detention without trial. Although he also prioritized reducing corruption and widening vernacular instruction into schools, Bulwer-Lytton could not escape the pressures of politics and the stringent demands of Das and other Indian nationalists, and "he left their sad land with relief on 28 March 1927" (ODNB).Candid and personal, these volumes tell minutely the story of t

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