Dear all,
I am happy to announce that a new scholarly resource on Dadabhai Naoroji is currently in the works. Along with S.R. Mehrotra, formerly professor of history at SOAS as well as at the University of Himachal Pradesh, I am co-editor for a volume of selected papers from the Dadabhai Naoroji collection at the National Archives of India. The volume is being published by Oxford University Press, in conjunction with the National Archives, and should be out by the summer of 2012.
The Naoroji papers at the National Archives are massive in size and scope. Two volumes of correspondence were published by RP Patwardhan in the 1970s. The current volume focuses on Naoroji’s communication with several Indian and British leaders, as well as family members and friends. These individuals include pro-India voices in British politics such as Henry M. Hyndman and William Wedderburn along with A.O. Hume; Indian political and economic thinkers such as Romesh Chandra Dutt, Gopalkrishna Gokhale, and M.G. Ranade; British Indian administrators; correspondents in America; and contemporary scholars of Indian history, languages, and religion.
Sadly, many of Naoroji’s own letters have been lost, and the great majority of what survives today consists of letters to Naoroji. This volume tries to bring together as many of Naoroji’s own letters as well as those that reflect on his career and activities. Material by Naoroji’s correspondents carries the added bonus of giving us an insight into contemporary Indian and British society, and particularly the lives of those Indians who studied, worked and lived in the imperial metropole during the late Victorian era.
Further information on this volume can be found on Oxford University Press’ website:
Please note that the release date will be later than February 2012. And, I am personally hoping that the cost of the volume reduces a little!
With best regards,
Dinyar Patel
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Dinyar Patel
Ph.D. Candidate, Modern South Asia
Department of History
Harvard University
+91 87672 03572