Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Hesperides Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a minor aristocrat should be, the observant and sharp-tongued Eden (1797 1869) never censored her letters for the sake of diplomacy. This two-volume collection of letters, edited by her niece Eleanor Eden, was published posthumously in 1872 after the success of her 1866 collection, Up the Country (also reissued in this series). Volume 1 begins in England, with an account of preparations (including lessons in Hindi) for the voyage and subsequent seven-year stay in India, about which Emily was originally apprehensive. In spite of suffering from the heat (and from considerable boredom at her formal duties as Lord Auckland's hostess) she produces a series of light-hearted and engaging letters to friends and family, from 'At Sea, Nowhere in Particular' to the Governor-General's palatial residence in Calcutta."

Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a minor aristocrat should be, the observant and sharp-tongued Eden (1797 1869) never censored her letters for the sake of diplomacy. This two-volume collection of letters, edited by her niece Eleanor Eden, was published posthumously in 1872 after the success of her 1866 collection, Up the Country (also reissued in this series). In Volume 2, which also contains several letters from Emily's sister Frances (1801 49), the round of engagements, days in an opulent houseboat, and biting observations on Anglo-Indian society, continue, but the generally cheerful tone begins to darken: 'It is very odd that no letters whatever have come from Cabul for three weeks, but the reports are all favourable' she notes, at the outset of the disastrous Anglo-Afghan War, which led to her brother's dismissal from India."

Raised in a politically-active household, Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a middle-class spinster should be, Eden never permitted diplomacy to dilute her letters home. Published in 1866, the letters provoked sympathy among women who had similarly endured dusty bonnets to accompany fathers and husbands to distant outposts of the British Empire. As one reviewer noted, this book is 'addressed primarily to a public consisting of wives, sisters, or daughters of possible Governors-General, and is sure therefore of general popularity'. There is still plenty to amuse modern audiences. Volume 1 takes readers from the packing of steamer trunks in London, through sea voyages and monsoons. Accounts of peacocks and pageants are balanced against ironic observations regarding domestic arrangements, all of which demonstrate Eden's skill as a sensitive and witty author.

Raised in a politically-active household, Emily Eden's childhood prepared her well for her role as companion to her brother, the Governor-General of India. Outwardly all that a middle-class spinster should be, Eden never permitted diplomacy to dilute her letters home. Published in 1866, the letters provoked sympathy among women who had similarly endured dusty bonnets to accompany fathers and husbands to distant outposts of the British Empire. As one reviewer noted, this book is 'addressed primarily to a public consisting of wives, sisters, or daughters of possible Governors-General, and is sure therefore of general popularity'. There is still plenty to amuse modern audiences. Volume 2 conveys the growing anxiety surrounding the Anglo-Afghan war, stirring and sympathetic accounts of poverty, and the author's eagerness to return to her much-loved Kensington. Eden's descriptive passages and personal reflections are all narrated with her signature sensitivity and wit.