07/01/2017
Allan Octavian Hume belonged to the age and league of 'amateur scientists' when the word was not regarded an oxymoron. For these 'gentleman scholars', lack of formal initiation in one trade or a branch of science was not considered reason enough for exclusion from serious contribution to other trades.
Originally a career diplomat in the British Imperial civil service, Hume is most popularly known as the founder of the Indian National Congress. Hume's empathy for India manifested in other ways too. Most well known among these is his pioneering work on Indian ornithology, which culminated in the publication of the magnum opus "The Game Birds of India,Burma and Ceylon" published starting 1879 along with John Marshall.
Starting from the time he was posted in Etawah, Hume built up a comprehensive collection of bird specimens from the subcontinent acquired during multiple birding expeditions. A significant portion of these were destroyed during the mutiny of 1857, and the rest were housed in his mansion in Simla. The British Museum was requested, initially unsuccessfully, to take his collection, as this had grown too big for him to manage privately. Eventually, when only abut 20,000 or so specimens were remaining, the British museum took these over, where to this day they form the core of the Tropical birds collection.
Hume's "Game Birds" is a landmark in Indian bibliography, a jewel in the annals of ornithology, and a collectors pride. First editions of the book, such as the one described here (1879), are increasingly hard to lay hands upon.
"The Game Birds of India, Burmah and Ceylon"
Vol.s 1& 2 : 1879 and 1880.
Published by A.O. Hume and C. H.T Marshall.
8, Hastings Street. Calcutta.
Leather bound, Quattro.
A+R Sadhu collection.
