Ask for price? First published 1849, this second edition incorporates the author’s final revisions. A work described by Khurana as the “high-water mark” of British historiography on the Sikhs, which “won for Sikhism an assured place in the history of mankind” (pp. 135-6). Although a critical and popular success, the book precipitated the premature end to a highly successful military career. Cunningham (1812-1851) passed through Addiscombe and Chatham, attracting high praise at both establishments, passing out of the former with the prize for mathematics, the sword for good conduct, and the first nominations for the Bengal Engineers. The present edition contains an introductory advertisement by his brother Peter, who saw the edition through the press, which contains what could be seen as a fitting epitaph for the author; “The author fell victim to the truth related in this book. He wrote History in advance of his time, and suffered for it; but posterity will, I feel assured, do justice to his memory”.
