Born in 1880 in England, the firebrand revolutionary Barindra Kumar Ghosh was the younger brother of Sri Aurobindo. Barindra Ghosh believed in armed militancy against the British Raj. He was sentenced to death in the Alipore Bomb Case, which was later commuted to life imprisonment in the Cellular Jail in Andaman. Under the terms of a general amnesty in 1920, Barindra Ghosh was released from Cellular Jail, following which he devoted himself to writing and journalism.
Barindra Ghosh's memoirs were first published in Bengali in 1922, and the Gujarati translation appeared the very next year in 1923. We are now pleased to offer an extremely rare and obscure First Edition in Gujarati of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs. First published in 1923 in Gujarati, this is one of the rarest books in the realm of revolutionary literature in Gujarati. It was published in Surat by the Vimawala brothers — Ishwarlal Vimawala & his younger brother Natwarlal — who were devoted to the cause of Indian independence and established the renowned Gandiv Sahitya Mandir publishing house in Surat. Natwarlal Vimawala participated in the Bardoli Satyagraha in his youth and went on to become one of the most notable authors of children's literature in Gujarati.
An intriguing aspect of the Gujarati edition of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs was the identity of the translator that was conspicuously left out in this book. Which begs the question — who translated this book into Gujarati shortly after it was first published in Bengali? And why was the translator's name not printed in the Gujarati edition?
This leads us to one of the most fascinating personages of the Indian freedom struggle — Narsinhbhai Patel. Born in 1874 in Gujarat, Narsinhbhai was a radical revolutionary who learnt Bengali in his youth and had been translating proscribed Bengali literature into Gujarati. He was known to empathise with both Aurobindo as well as Barindra Ghosh, having translated their treasonable writings into Gujarati which were banned by the British government. One of his most notorious translations from Bengali into Gujarati was a bomb-making manual by Barindra Ghosh. The Criminal Investigation Department of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency considered Narsinhbhai Patel "the most dangerous man" in the Bombay Presidency. In the early 1920s, Narsinhbhai was working as a teacher in Shantiniketan, which is when Barindra Ghosh's memoirs were first published in Bengali.
To the best of our knowledge, there is no published account of the mystery translator of this rare book. However, in light of the above-mentioned facts, it is logically plausible to believe that Narsinhbhai Patel would have been the translator of Barindra Ghosh's memoirs. His name would have been deliberately excluded to ensure the unimpeded circulation of this book in the Bombay Presidency in 1923.
Several images of this antiquarian First Edition are attached herewith for the perusal of those interested.
BOMBYUG-NU BANGALA
Translated from Bengali into Gujarati by: Translator's name was not printed in this book; most probably translated by Narsinhbhai Patel, please refer to the description above. Published by: Natwarlal M. Vimawala for Gandiv Sahitya Mandir, Surat, 1923 AD (Vikram Samvat 1979) — Extremely Rare & Out-of-Print, Antiquarian First Edition of 2000 copies
Printed by: Ishwarlal M. Vimawala at Gandiv Mudranalaya, Surat
Language: Gujarati
Format: Hardcover. Professionally bound in black Rexine with the titles debossed in golden lettering on the front cover and on the spine.
Size: 17.1 cm x 12.3 cm
Pages: viii + 200 pages + 1 frontispiece on glossy paper
Condition: Pre-Owned. Excellent — Near Pristine. Pages clean and unmarked. Binding tight and firm. Minor, natural yellowing/foxing of the pages owing to age. Not more than two tiny wormholes near the upper margin.
Remarks: Sourced with great difficulty, the value of this particular book lies in its utmost rarity for being the First Antiquarian Edition in Gujarati published in 1923 in excellent condition. This was the very first book that was published in the Gandiv Sahitya Vatika series in 1923; please refer to the title page attached herewith. The First Edition details in this book are followed by three numbers — 2000, 1979 and 1923 — that denote the print run (2000 copies), the Vikram Samvat year (VS 1979) and the English calendar year (1923 AD) respectively; image attached.
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