BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA
A Genuine Narrative of the Deplorable Deaths of 123 English Gentlemen and Others who were suffocated in the Black-Hole in Fort-William, at Calcutta, in the Kingdom of Bengal; in the night succeeding the 20th day of June, 1756. In a letter to a friend, by J.Z. Holwell, Esq.
London: printed for A. Millar, 1758.
Price: $2,500.00
About the item
First edition, with half-title. viii,56p. 8vo. BLACK HOLE OF CALCUTTA. Bound in 20th century quarter black calf and marbled boards. Very Good. ESTC T78415. Reprinted in 1758 (second edition), 1804, 1825 and 1849.
Item #315505
J.Z. Holwell (1711-1798), a doctor civilian administrator of the British East India Company, was among those held in the prison at Fort William after the fort was captured by the troops of the Nawad of Bengal. The so-called "Black Hole of Calcutta" was a jail cell approximately 14 x 18 feet, in which an unknown number of people (around 164 according to Holwell) were incarcerated overnight without adequate water or food. Approximately 143 of them died from suffocation before they were released the next morning.
He became Governor of Bengal in 1760 and was among the first Europeans to study Indian Antiquities.
