Captain Thomas Williamson (1790-1815) was an officer in the East India Company. Whilst serving in Bengal he practised his skill as an artist. These were then drawn upon by Samuel Howitt (1756/57-182) and published in the ‘Oriental Field Sports: being [a] complete, detailed and accurate Description of the Wild Sports of the East’, which is one of the great English colour plate books. The high-quality hand-coloured aquatint plates were first published in 1807. Howitt is highly regarded and in some circles is believed to be second only to Stubbs for his rendering of animals. Schwerdt calls it ‘e most beautiful book on Indian sport in existence’ and Prideaux ‘a faithful representation of [the] picturesque country, together with the manners and customs of both the native and European inhabitants’. Abbey Travel (1956) 427; Nissen BBI (1966) 4416; Prideaux p. 282; Schwerdt (1928-37) II p. 297; Tooley (1954) 508.