The East India Company, by B Gardner

The East India Company, The extraordinary commercial enterprise that raised armies, ruled a nation, and built an empire
by Brian Gardner

The East India Company ruled over nearly one fifth of the world’s population. It possessed its own army, navy and civil service, and even its own church. It became the most powerful military force in Asia and had a revenue greater than that of Britain. It was, in Brian Gardner’s words, “a government owned by businessmen, the shares in which were daily bought and sold”. It ruled from St Helena to Singapore. Its villains and heroes were larger than life including Clive of India, Warren Hastings, Raffles, Lord Cornwallis and Arthur Wellesley (before he became Duke of Wellington) among others. The East India Company’ reign saw the age of magnificent ships, the Black Hole of Calcutta, the fripperies of millionaire nabobs and the horrors of the Sepoy Mutiny.

Hardback with protective cellophane cover. Fair condition.
Small tears to the top of the dust jacket and tear along the spine of the front endpaper have been repaired with archival tape. Inside pages yellowed but in otherwise good condition.

319 pages. 8 pages of black and white photographs and some black and white illustrations
155 mm x 220 mm (approx. 6 in x 8.75 in)
First American Edition, 1972, McCall Publishing Co, New York