The Wonders of Vilayet: Being the Memoir, Originally in Persian, of a Visit to France and Britain in 1765

In 1765, Mirza Sheikh I’tesamuddin, a Bengali secretary employed by the East India Company, traveled on a mission to Britain to seek protection for the Mogul emperor Shah Alam II. The mission was aborted by the greed and duplicity of Robert Clive, but it resulted in this remarkable account of the Mirza’s travels in Britain and Europe. This is an entertaining, unique, and culturally valuable document of those journeys.