Details

Other Title:

Report on the Ganges Canal works from their commencement until the opening of the canal in 1854.

Subjects:

Engineering.
Canals -- India -- History -- 19th century.
Canals.
History.
Upper Ganges Canal (India).
India -- History -- British occupation, 1765-1947.
India.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Accounts.
Diagrams.
Pen and wash drawings.
Book catalogs.
Manuscripts for publication.
Manuscripts, English.
Manuscripts, Digital.

Language:

English, with at least one brief section in French (Volume 2, p. 1122-1123) and a copy of a worker's agreement in Urdu (Hindustani) (Volume 3, f. 156r).

Summary:

Manuscript of an extensive illustrated report on the construction of the Ganges Canal, published in 1860 as Report on the Ganges Canal works from their commencement until the opening of the canal in 1854. The manuscript includes corrections and notes to the printer, some in Proby Cautley's hand, which were incorporated into the printed edition. The report describes the planning, surveying, financial record keeping, engineering, and construction of the canal, which was intended for both navigation and irrigation. The third volume is a collection of appendices including manuscript records, printed documents marked up for re-publication, and foldout tables (f. 99, 325) and documents (f. 157, 286-287, 290, 293, 296, 299-300, 305). One of the manuscript appendices is a list of the books in the Ganges Canal Professional Library in 1854.

Contents:

Volume 1
Part 1: Historical Sketch of the origin and progress of the Ganges Canal
p.1-47: Chapter 1, Preliminary period under the directorship of Lieutenant Colonel P. T. Cautley, from 1839 to 1845
p.47-97: Chapter 2, Intermediate period under the directorship of Major W. E. Baker, from 1845 to 1848
p.97-141: Chapter 3, Final period under the directorship of Lieutenant Colonel P. T. Cautley, from 1848 to 1854
Part 2: Topography of the country and description of the works
p.142-164: Chapter 1, Prefatory remarks
p.164-525: Chapter 2, Detail of alignement and works
p.525-572: Chapter 3, Determination of the alignement and works on the branches
p.572-641: Chapter 4, Description of the system of distribution by Rajbuhas, or main lines of water course.
Volume 2
Part 3: Description of the works and details of construction
p.642-761: Chapter 1, Drainage works
p.762-895: Chapter 2, Regulating works for the supply of water and slope of channel
p.896-1003: Chapter 3, Works of communication
p.1004-1019: Chapter 4, Works of accommodation
p. 1020-1045: Chapter 5, Works of navigation
p.1046-1049: Chapter 6, Works of distribution
p.1050-1123: Chapter 7, Works for machinery
p.1125-1165: Chapter 8, Terminal works
p.1166-1338: Chapter 9, Solani Aqueduct
p.1339-1394: Chapter 10, Excavation of the canal channel
p.1395-1450: Chapter 11, Current expenses.
Volume 3
f.2r-38r: Appendix A, On the supply of materials to the Northern Division works
f.39r-81v: Appendix B, Report of a committee assembled in order of the Right Honorable the Governor General of India to report on the unhealthiness of Kurnal, and the probable effect on health to be produced by the Ganges Canal (printed, Agra: Secundra Orphan Press, 1847)
f.82r-137v: Appendix C, Manner of keeping accounts in the Canal Department and form of quarterly bills
f.139r-159v: Appendix D, General instructions to executive officers of the Ganges Canal works, by Major W. P. Baker (printed)
f.160r-177v: Appendix E, Major Baker's report on the Ganges Canal works on making over charge
f.178r-188v: Appendix F, Calculations for discharges and capacities of channels from report of 1845
f.189r-190v: Appendix G, Tabular statements of measurements of Hindun River
f.191r-195v: Appendix H, Instructions for forming embankments and plantations
f.196r-210v: Appendix I, Table of depression of arches on striking centres
f.211r-230v: Appendix J, Table of certain statistics of each work
f.231r-237v: Appendix K, Reports on Dimāt and Bhosān Bridges
f.238r-271v: Appendix L, System of account keeping introduced into the Roorkee workshops by Mr. Harry Masters
f.272r-281v: Appendix M, List of books in Ganges Canal library
f.282r-308v: Appendix N, Valuation statements of property at Cawnpoor falling within the canal boundaries
f.309r-325v: Appendix O, Captain Goodwyn's report on the sinking of the Solani Aqueduct foundation blocks (printed)
f.326r-329v: Appendix P, Table of depressions of the Solani Aqueduct arches on removing centerings.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from spine titles.
Pagination: Volume 1: Paper, i + 334 leaves ; [i-ii, 1], 2-141, [i-iii, 142-195, i-ii, 196-211, i-iv, 212-235, i-iv, 236-531, i-xii, 532-641], contemporary pagination in ink (1-141), upper outer corners, and sporadic later pagination in pencil (142-641), upper outer corners and inner margins; catchwords lower right corners. Volume 2: Paper, i + 306 + i leaves; [642-665, i-ii, 666-879, 890-1123, i-ii, 1124-1137, i-ii, 1138-1279, i-ii, 1280-1339, 1339-1358, i-ii, 1359-1452], sporadic later pagination in pencil, upper outer corners and inner margins; catchwords lower right corners. Volume 3: Paper, i + 329 + i leaves; unfoliated.
Layout: Volumes 1-2 written in 41-45 lines, in the outer half of each page, with the inner half of the page used for occasional notes and corrections; Volume 3 in multiple formats, including large ledger pages bound in with their lines parallel to the spine.
Script: Written in cursive script; text of Volumes 1-2 written by a single hand, probably a secretary, with marginal notes and corrections in ink and pencil in multiple hands, including that of Proby T. Cautley (usually in pencil); manuscript appendices in Volume 3 by multiple hands.
Decoration: 172 numbered diagrams in Volumes 1 and 2, including schematic maps, topographical cross-sections, and mechanical cross-sections, many with colored inks and washes; 162 of the diagrams are small images in the text; 10 are plates in ink or in color (Volume 1, after p. 195, 211, 235; Volume 2, after p. 665, 1123, 1137 (a foldout), 1279, 1358). Volume 3 has additional diagrams and plates, including plates dated 1853 signed by Dilla Ram or Dillam (f. 8v, 15r, 20r) and Mooshtaq Ahmud (f. 11r, 17r), and a long foldout showing the segment of the canal in Kānpur (written Cawnpoor in the manuscript, f. 285). Many leaves seem to have had the orginal diagrams cut out and replacements pasted in; and some diagrams have notes to the printer pasted near them.
Watermarks: In pale blue paper, most frequently a female figure holding a spear, seated on a wheel, enclosed in an oval cartouche with countermark Lumsden & Son/1852; years from 1850 to 1853 are found in some countermarks.
Binding: Later half morocco; gilt title and volume numbers; marbled endpapers.
Origin: Written in India in 1854 (the year Cautley left India), with later additions to 1860 (Volume 2, p. 1451).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Asher Rare Books (Houten, the Netherlands), cat. 27, no. 30.
Formerly owned by John D. Stanitz (Cleveland, Ohio), Ms. 53.
Acquired by Lawrence J. Schoenberg with other Stanitz manuscripts, Sept. 1997.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2019.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 122 (LJS 222).

Cited as:

Oversize UPenn LJS 222.

Contributor:

Stanitz, John D., former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

898044535

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page