Emily Eden travelled to India in 1836 with her sister and her brother George who had been appointed Governor General and they travelled across northern India together. She wrote about and drew what she saw while travelling and published her works privately when she returned to England.
These twenty four hand coloured lithographic portraits were made from drawings sketched by Emily Eden during the time she spent in India visiting her brother George Eden, 1st Earl of Auckland who was Governor-General (1835-1842) at the time. They show not only Indian princes but also soldiers, servants, holy men and the Sikh ruler of the Punjab. She also wrote about political and military events in India while she was there. This included the total destruction of the British and Indian army during the retreat from Kabul in 1842 in which 4,500 troops and 12,000 civilians perished on the road from Kabul to Jalalabad. Emily was not only an accomplished artist but also a poet and novelist and who published two books which were very popular at the time.
