This book owes its existence to Rebecca Nuotio and Rob Davies at the British Library. Without their interest and enthusiasm for this project at the outset, and their unfailing encouragement along the way, a throwaway comment made during a conversation in one of the Library’s cafes would have remained just that.
During the course of writing this book, I benefited from the help and assistance of a variety of libraries, librarians and archivists. I am grateful to Nick Graffy at the Hartley Library and to his colleagues in the Inter-library Loan Department at the University of Southampton. I would also like to thank Penny Brook, Margaret Makepeace and all of their colleagues in the India Office Records at the British Library for their generous assistance and guidance. I am particularly grateful to Mark Pomeroy and his colleagues at the Royal Academy, London, for permission to consult and quote from the papers of Ozias Humphry. Finally, as ever, I relied heavily on the staffs of the British Library, London, and the Hartley Library at the University of Southampton.
As always, I am grateful to those friends and colleagues who have helped me to think about the East India Company and the images it inspired over the years: Tim Barringer, Robert Blyth, Huw Bowen, Quintin Colville, James Davey, Douglas Fordham, Gillian Forrester, Douglas Hamilton, Sarah Longair, Philip McEvansoneya, John MacKenzie, Margaret Makepeace, Peter (P. J.) Marshall, John Oldfield, Katherine Prior, Geoff Quilley, Johanna Roethe and Zoë White. Many of them read drafts of chapters or listened to papers. I am grateful for their help and advice, although naturally any errors or omissions are mine. Thanks in particular to Johanna who read drafts of all the chapters with great insightfulness and unfailing cheerfulness.
This book is about the images. Although the shortcomings and inadequacies of the text are my sole responsibility, the book is the product of significant amounts of collective effort and dedication. I am grateful to Sally Nicholls for her help in sourcing the images. On behalf of everyone who admires the high-quality illustrations, I would like to acknowledge and thank everybody in the Imaging Services department at the British Library who ensured that the images are the real stars of the book. I am also very grateful to Jacqueline Harvey for her careful reading of the text and to the book’s designer, Maggi Smith, for turning an idea into reality. Where I have quoted directly from a source, the endnotes provide specific references. Readers who are interested in pursuing some of the themes explored in these pages will find suggestions for further reading at the end of the book.
