Three Stories of the Raj
Scolar Press is pleased to announce the publication of a fine limited edition of Three Stories of the Raj, by Ved Mehta, author of Vedi, The Ledge Between the Streams, Sound-Shadows of the New World, and other books. It is illustrated by Zahid Sardar and designed and printed by Adrian Wilson.
Ved Mehta and Adrian Wilson, both MacArthur Prize Fellows, met for the first time at a gathering of recipients of the award. Their conversation turned inevitably to their work—to Ved Mehta’ s writing and to Adrian Wilson’s book designing and printing. The concept of publishing a Mehta work in a special edition arose naturally; and the author chose three stories with different characters and events, each revealing an aspect of boyhood in India under the British raj.
Working in Wilson’s studio at the time was Zahid Sardar, a graphic artist from Bombay, and he was eager to illustrate the book. Sardar, who was already planning to visit his native land, took along his sketchbook and copies of the stories, and returned with a group of delicate and perceptive images recreating a vanished way of life.
Ved Mehta was born in India, but since 1949 has lived in England and the United States. He was educated at the Arkansas School for the Blind, Pomona College, Balliol College, Oxford, and Harvard. His stories and articles have appeared in Indian, British, and American publications, most frequently in The New Yorker. He has been awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships and two Ford Foundation grants.
Adrian Wilson is renowned internationally as a designer of prize-winning books for museums, university presses, The Limited Editions Club, and trade publishers, and also for fine limited editions printed at his own press. He is an authority on the history of the book and has written and lectured extensively on the book arts.
The title of the first story, “Four Hundred and Twenty,” refers to an infamous law of British India under which Indian subjects were tried for various sorts of antisocial behavior. The story reveals with gentle humor the mixture of petty bureaucracy and profound spiritual feeling during the period, and the deep division between Hindus and Muslims that in time led to the Partition.
“The Music Master,” the story of a boy’s lessons with a lazy, devious, but appealing guru, shows how the crosscurrents of ancient superstition and modern Westernized thinking have buffeted the Indian subcontinent.
The third story, “Sunset,” presents with great sensitivity and simplicity a picture of a village family, its traditions, and its strengths, in a time of tragedy
The book consists of sixty-four pages and is printed by letterpress at Wilson’s Press in Tuscany Alley, San Francisco. The format is horizontal and the book is printed on Mohawk Superfine paper, in two inks, black and curry. The book is set in Centaur and Arrighi types. Of a total of 1,000 copies, 300 constitute a deluxe edition, with the pen illustrations hand-colored by the artist. These copies are bound with sides of Oriental bark paper and a spine of oasis morocco leather stamped in gold. The endpapers are moldmade Nideggen. Each copy of the deluxe edition is signed by the author, the artist, and the printer, and comes in a slipcase covered in bark paper. The price is $350, which includes shipping.
For the regular edition of 700 copies, the printing, type, and paper are identical with those of the deluxe edition, but the books are bound in curry-colored imported Dutch linen; on the spine is a deep-red label stamped in gold. The price is $65, including shipping.