GANDHI‘S TO THE STUDENTS: A Signed Copy with Editorial Provenance, Reviews and Publishing Archive

Anand T Hingorani, To the Students, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1938, third edition.

344 pages with index; original publisher’s binding
8.8 x 5.8 in (22.35 x 14.73 cm)

Signed and dated by Gandhi in Hindi in black ink: “बापू 2/10/41” (“Bapu, 2 October 1941”)

A significant Gandhian educational compilation edited and published by Anand T. Hingorani, comprising selected speeches and writings of Mahatma Gandhi addressed principally to students and young citizens of India and Burma between 1920 and 1938, concerning education, nationalism, truth, self-discipline, character formation, art, literature, social service, brahmacharya, machinery, village reconstruction, and ethical citizenship.

Together with two important provenance letters from Mahatma Gandhi to Anand T. Hingorani directly relating to the publication and editorial development of To the Students:
(i) autograph postcard signed “Bapu”, dated 5 October 1938, discussing Anand Hingorani's request for a preface to the book; and
(ii) autograph note signed “Bapu”, dated 19 February 1940, written on Gandhi's silent day, recommending that the publication should contain “an exhaustive index” and advising that one be prepared and issued separately.

The lot also has an important associated archive of contemporary advertisements, promotional notices, press reviews, and typed review extracts relating to the publication, reception, and circulation of To the Students, including printed advertisements issued through Anand T. Hingorani’s Karachi distribution network; a promotional clipping from Books magazine (17 October 1941); contemporary review extracts published in The Bombay Chronicle (29 January 1939), Visva-Bharati (May–June 1939), Taraporevala’s Sindian Literary Review (April 1939), The Indian Express (5 March 1939), Tribune (13 August 1939), and Rashtra-Vani (13 June 1940); additional review material from the column “The Caravan Passes” by “Dragoman”; and typed promotional essays discussing Gandhi’s educational philosophy, criticism of English education, machinery, nationalism, Wardha education, moral discipline, and the role of students in national reconstruction. The accompanying review archive preserves contemporary assessments describing the work as “a beautiful and inspiring exposition of students’ Dharma”, “a perennial fountain of instruction and cheer for the Indian youth”, “a gospel for our students”, and “a striking book” preserving Gandhi’s educational and moral philosophy for future generations.

Taken together, the volume and its accompanying archive preserve far more than a book. They document an attempt to shape the moral imagination of a generation destined to inherit an independent India. Few Gandhian publications survive with such complete evidence of their conception, reception and circulation, making the present lot an exceptional record of how ideas were transformed into a national educational project.
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To the Women- Signed First Edition with Anand T. Hingorani’s Editorial Notes, Review Drafts and Working Extracts on Gandhi’s Writings on Women

Anand T Hingorani, To the Women, Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House, 1941. Volume II. First Edition.

247 pages, including an index; accompanied by an important group of contemporary typed editorial notes, marked thematic extracts, and review drafts relating to the publication, interpretation, and dissemination of Gandhi’s writings on women, education, marriage, equality, widowhood, and social reform; several passages underlined and marked in red pencil; including contemporary Hindustan Times review material discussing the Gandhi Series edited by Anand T. Hingorani; original publisher’s binding.
8.8 x 5.8 in (22.35 x 14.73 cm)

Signed and dated by Mahatma Gandhi in Hindi in black ink, “Bapu 2/10/41"
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