Extremely rare first edition (5th copy located) of the important first English dictionary of Deccani grammar, here called "South Indian Hindustani". A pioneering work for the printing of Indian languages in in native scripts. In 1843 the College Board, also at Cuddalore, issued a reprint that is now more common.
Only a few years before the publication of the present grammar Western linguists were beginning to understand the different Hindustani dialects. The efforts of John Gilchrist (1759-1841) made Hindustani the standard language for the British administration in India and their communication with native Indian people, instead of Persian which few Indians spoke. Gilchrist wrote an important English-Hindustani dictionary, titled A dictionary: English and Hindoostanee (Calcutta, Stuart and Cooper, 1787-1790). This introduced a grammar that was based on his research of dialects from North India, including Patna, Faizabad, Lucknow, Delhi, and Ghazipur.
Printing in the various languages of the Indian continent only took off after William Carey established a press in Serampore in 1800, which eventually published the first books in 40 different Indian languages, for which they had to create new punches for the types by hand. The present publication, issued in neighbouring Cuddalore, presumably used their types. The European(?) paper used for the present work shows a watermark date 1800. Oddly the year 1711 is printed slightly tilted below the year 1808 on the title-page. The anonymous compiler is identified in the reprint as Charles Stuart.
With a few contemporary English annotations in pencil in the margins. Slight overall staining on the pages. Title-page slightly soiled, corners repaired. Old tear in leaf A4 repaired. Final blank page soiled. Otherwise in good condition. Cox, II, p. 145 (described as a folio); KVK & WorldCat (4 copies); John Shakespear, An introduction to the Hindustani language: comprising a grammar, and a vocabulary, English and Hindustani, 1845, pp. 447-466.