Very first edition, printed in Lahore in the Punjab region in 1858, of a controversial account by "a Punjab employe[!]". This employee was Frederick Henry Cooper (1827-1869), who was a British civil servant working with the British East India Company in the Punjab region. The present work is a very early publication on the Indian Mutiny of 1857, it was possibly published before, or in any case simultaneously with, the London edition of the same year.
The name of the conflict is contested and it is also known as the Indian Rebellion, Sepoy Mutiny, Revolt of 1857 or First War of Independence, which was a major uprising in India against the rule of the British East India Company. The conflict took place from May 1857 until November 1858 and during that time the Sepoys and local Indian civilians suffered major losses of more than 800.000 people, due to the brutal actions of the British. This eventually resulted in a British victory, the end of the East India Company's rule in India and the transfer of rule to the British Crown.
The author was a notorious participant in the Revolt and together with James Neill, John Nicholson and William Hodson, Cooper was responsible for the killing of about 500 Sepoys and civilians. The present work was at the time of publication, and still is, very controversial, since it includes an entirely unapologetic and almost gleeful account Cooper's and the British ruthless actions. Regardless of the controversy surrounding Cooper and his work and the condemnation of it by an MP in the House of Commons in 1859, Cooper was appointed a companion of the Order of the Bath by Queen Victoria in the 1860 Birthday Honours while serving in the Bengal Civil Service.
The title-page is signed by the author "Fred Cooper C.B." and with pencil and ink annotations in the margins, most of these annotations giving translations of terms and occasional comments on the text itself are by someone who served with the 61st brigade and has initialled some of his notes "K.C.". The corners of the boards are very slightly scuffed, the outer margin of pp. 25-28 is cut slightly short, without affecting the text and some occasional very slight spotting. Otherwise in very good condition. Ladendorf 244; P.J.O. Taylor, Companion to the Indian Mutiny of 1857 (OUP, 1996), p. 170; WorldCat 800580831 (1 copy British Library), 17529071 (2 or more copies, unclear because of different eds.).