PUBLISHERS' PREFACE
In this edition it has been considered advisable to reproduce, verbatim, only the "Twenty-one Days" as originally published in Vanity Fair, the additional series of six included in several editions of the book issued after the Author's death being omitted.
The twenty-one papers in question have been supplemented by contributions to The Bombay Gazette, which appeared in that daily newspaper during the whole of the year 1880, the year before the Author's death, under the nom de plume of "Our Political Orphan;" and the Publishers beg to tender their best thanks to the proprietors of that newspaper for the permission thus generously accorded for their present reproduction.
In carrying out the work of revision many passages previously omitted have been restored to the text. To render such readily apparent to the reader, they have in every case been enclosed in [] brackets.
A new series of illustrations has been specially prepared for this edition by Mr. George Darby of Calcutta, and the Publishers venture to think he has succeeded in a marked degree in embodying in his sketches the spirit of the Author's subjects.
In conclusion it has been the aim of the Publishers to render this new edition of a great work by a very gifted writer as perfect as possible and worthy of acceptance as a standard Anglo-Indian classic.
LONDON
September, 1910.