Unpublished correspondence of the famous hunter, consisting of copies of the 41 letters he sent to his parents during the trip he made to the British Indies from September 12, 1891 until July 2, 1892. Leaving Marseille on the Pei-Ho, Edmond de Poncins (1866-1937) passed through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, then arrived in Bombay, visited Poona, Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Agra, Benares, Calcutta, Raimana, Dhubri, Simla, Rawalpindi (Pakistan), Gulmarg (Kashmir), and Murree (Pakistan), before embarking in Karachi (Pakistan) on the Oceanien and returning to Marseille.
He describes this journey in the present work, including the many hunts he took part in: "Oodeypoor [Udaipur] is the last state in India that is today what it was 1000 years ago. It is 70 miles from the railway; a country of rough, red, burnt mountains, with in the valley a city of 40,000 souls, all white, dominated by a fairy palace [...]. I killed a wild boar in a hunt that the Maharana offered me and where he came, because he is very fond of hunting. After that I had at my disposal all I wanted in terms of horses, carriages, elephants, etc. But it was impossible to obtain permission to kill or try to kill a tiger or a panther; his highness does not have many at his disposal and keeps them for himself. On the other hand, I killed quite a bit of small game, 2 antelopes, a gazelle, an Indian fox..." (13th letter, Udaipur, December 2, 1891, pp. 84-86).
"Arriving at the scene at 3 a.m., I found 120 beaters (60 with spears, 60 with sabres), plus 6 trackers [...]. A tracker returning from his quest reported having a bear 1 mile away. I quickly took my people into the deep ravines where I was told the bear was and began the hunt. In less than 10 minutes my bear was in sight on a steep slope covered with clear jungle through which it could be seen well. It listened to the beaters on the ridge and was slowly descending towards me [...]. A moment later one of the Maharanas men joined me and almost at the same moment the bear came out of the bush at 12 or 15 yards and charged straight at us who were looking the other way [...]. I hurriedly planted a 12-bore bullet at 5 yards which rolled the bear like a rabbit..." (14th letter, Ulvar, Rajputana, December 9, 1891, pp. 90-94). "For game there is the cream of the crop: tigers, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, deer of two species and wild boars [...]. I once killed 6 kingfishers of 4 different species. I hoped to keep them, but I could not, and stopped shooting them because, although I like to kill, it was a pity to kill such lovely birds for nothing. As game, I killed: 5 spotted deer, a hog deer, 4 wild boars, 3 otters, half a dozen crocodiles including one 22 feet long, 2 iguanas, large lizards 5 to 6 feet on average and about 150 to 160 game birds of all species [...]. I found tiger feet, tied 2 goats for 4 nights in the best places without a single one being touched by a tiger. Only one was killed by a tiger cat..." (20th letter, Calcutta, February 10, 1892, pp. 138-140). A report of his hunts as of March 27 can be found on p. 196.
A hunter and explorer, Viscount Edmond de Montaigne de Poncins made several trips to Africa and Asia. After his stay in India (1891-1892), he traveled through Central Asia in 1893, Ethiopia in 1897 and East Africa in 1912. He published several hunting works including Chasses et explorations dans la région des Pamirs (1897).
From the collection of Vicomte de Poncins, with his engraved bookplate. In very good condition.