I WOULD NEVER have thought of extending my researches to India without the prompting of my friend nancy frieden, to whom I shall always be profoundly grateful for enlarging my world to this exciting subcontinent, as well as for most helpful comments on several of the chapters. Indira viswanathan Peterson has been a much-valued source of information and support. Thanks also to Alan and Martha Armstrong, robert Batchelor, Sir Andrew Buchanan, ray Desmond, olivia fraser, rosemary Herbert, rob Irving, Andy Lass, Alex de Montrichard, Sophie Moochhala, Henry noltie, Dede ruggles, June Siegel, Ajay Sinha, frances Soubry, C. P. Sujaya, Antonia Woods, and the resourceful staffs of the Mount Holyoke College Library and the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections of the British Library. As always, Don o’Shea, Dean of the faculty of Mount Holyoke College, has been generous of spirit and purse. James Gehrt provided high-quality scans of many of the illustrations. My students in Colonial Worlds in the fall of 2009 served as guinea pigs, reading most of an earlier draft of the book and providing lively commentary.
I would also like to thank fellow travelers on trips to India in addition to nancy: Jeanne Armor, David Taylor, David London, Cathy Herbert, Eric Tilles, Genie robbins, Tim Herbert, and Mara Lytle; thanks, too, to TransIndus for all the arrangements, and especially Shafi Khan for his resourcefulness and good company in Kashmir. Chapters 2 and 6 in this book were previously published in slightly different form in Studies in the History of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. I am indebted to the editor, John Dixon Hunt, for his early encouragement, and to the staff of Penn Press who have been a pleasure to work with.
My husband, Bob Herbert, has been my most astute reader and most enthusiastic supporter, ready to venture wherever I next propose. The late David Apter was a much loved and unfailingly generous mentor; David’s own insatiable curiosity embraced the entire world. Ellie Weld, dear friend for more than sixty years, gracious host for innumerable visits to England and shipmate on the voyage of discovery to India, shares my fascination with the subcontinent. To her and to David Apter I gratefully dedicate this book.