PROSTITUTION IN NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY CALCUTTA

New Delhi: Inter-India Publications, 1985. First printing. Near fine in very good plus dust jacket.. First printing of this historical and anthropological look at "the oldest possible social institution" (jacket) in India, with a focus on prostitution in Calcutta. Joardar based this work on extensive fieldwork across India, and incorporates historical laws, statistics, and practices into a view of sex work in metropolitan and rural areas. Among the topics he covers are the intersection between the Caste system and brothels, the contribution of prostitutes to Indian literature, and the trafficking of sex workers. Uncommon overall, scarce in jacket. 9.5'' x 6''. Original black cloth boards with gilt lettering. Original price-clipped pink and black pictorial dust jacket. Illustrated with one black-and-white fold-out map. xii, 88 pages, including index. Occasional faint pencil marginal notes. Jacket with light sunning to upper edge and spine, abrasion to verso; rear flap with paper remnants to upper edge. Binding with a touch of shelfwear, with spine cracked at a couple openings; pastedowns bubbling a bit. Sound.