Sketch of the Sikhs; A Singular Nation, Who Inhabit the Provinces of the Punjab, Situated Between The Rivers Jumna and Indus

London: Printed for John Murray, 1812.. Sole edition thus. 8vo. (iv), 198 pp, bound without the final leaf of publisher's advertisements. Contemporary half calf rebacked to style, raised bands, gilt lettered red label, an autograph letter signed from the author bound in on a tab at the front of the book. Originally published in the eleventh volume of the Asiatic Researches. However, not being in "common circulation, it is now republished; and may prove acceptable, as a short and clear account of an oriental people, of singular and religion and manners, with whose history the European reader can be but little acquainted." The letter is addressed to "My dear Hare", Malcolm's friend the writer and theologian Julius Hare. He apologises for being in a "great bustle", but confides that "they are I am told to make me Governor of Bombay again and give me other work congenial to my whole soul." The letter has been dated 16th January, possibly in Hare's hand, and will have been composed in 1827 - the year Malcolm was appointed to the Bombay governorship. Malcolm had previously sought out the job of Governor of Madras, but Stephen Rumbold Lushington was the preferred candidate. However, in late 1826 it became apparent that Mountstuart Elphinstone was to retire from Bombay. Malcolm had considered other appointments in England in the interim, but he keenly accepted the opportunity to return to India with the potential to one day gain the highest Imperial rank, that of Governor-General. This ambition was never realised as despite his successes in Bombay his tenure was spiked with several controversies. He returned to England in 1830 where he spent the remaining three years of his life. Scarce.