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Title
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en_US
The Book of Good Counsels from the Sanskrit of the Hitopadesa
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en_US
Author's Autograph Edition
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Description
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en_US
This is a hardbound book (hard cover)
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en_US
Original language: san
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en_US
By Sir Edwin Arnold
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Creator
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en_US
Arnold, Edwin
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Contributor
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en_US
Brown, Gordon
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Date
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2016-01-25T19:03:23Z
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en_US
1999-12
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en_US
1896
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Date Available
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2016-01-25T19:03:23Z
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Date Issued
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en_US
1896
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Abstract
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en_US
This seems to be a good standard telling of the Hitopadesa. The opening T of C lists individual fables. In this version the merchant brings his wife on the second evening of the month of arranged assignations (49); it takes him only one viewing to be greedy to get the gifts that the king gave the woman of the first evening. The crow and the rat walk to the tortoise's pond. At the beginning of the second chapter, Lusty-Life the bull breaks a foreleg. In the story of the monkey and wedge, his tail and lower parts dangle down between the pieces of wood (59). The scene is well pictured in the facing insert. Lusty-Life is put in charge of provisions when the jackals are discovered to be consuming and disposing of more than their share of the kill. This second chapter ends with the killing of the bull. What happens to the jackals is not addressed. In this version, the wheelwright duped by his wife hidden in his wife's chamber hears her praise of him and rushes out of hiding to ask her lover if he had ever seen a truer wife than this (97)! In the third chapter, War, the swan (Silversides) has as his main minister a goose, and the inciting incident is that a crane from his kingdom happens to fly in peacock territory. This crane is sent back as a spy, and a paddy-bird, a form of crane, is commissioned to fortify the fortress. The peacock has a vulture for a minister, a cock for a general, and a parrot for an ambassador. A crow also shows up as a guest at the swan's court. The parrot commands obeisance or withdrawal from Camphor-island. King Swan refuses. The peacock advances rashly against the swan-people, contrary to the vulture's advice. The crane and his fellows wreak havoc on the peacock's realm. The crows are indeed traitors and burn the besieged citadel of the swan-king. The paddy-bird defends the king in the last hour and helps him escape but dies himself. The peacock captures the fortress. In the fourth book, the swan king first ascertains whose treason had cost him the loss of his fort, namely that of the crows. The two kings end up creating a good peace. The inserted verses are done in rhyme. The twenty illustrations here include seven full-page inserts. One of the more dramatic of these--the lion's killing of the bull in front of the jackals--is listed as a frontispiece but actually appears facing 55, at the beginning of its chapter. The frontispiece is the signed picture of Edwin Arnold. The other illustrations are integrated with print on text-pages. A strong example shows the crane with the crab in his mouth (124). This edition does a nice job with the names of individual animals and towns. There are notes at the back.
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Identifier
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en_US
4278 (Access ID)
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Language
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en_US
eng
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Publisher
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en_US
W.H. Allen and Co., Limited
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en_US
London
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Subject
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en_US
PK3741.H6 E5 1896
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en_US
Title Page Scanned
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Type
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en_US
Book, Whole