A Review of the Origin, Progress, and Result of the Decisive War with the late Tippoo Sultaun, in Mysore

Title continues: "With Notes; By James Salmond, Esq. of the Bengal Military Establishment. To which are added, Some Account of Zemaun Shah - The Proceedings of a Jacobin club, formed at Seringapatam - Official Advices to India on the Subject of the War - An Abstract of the Fences employed - Letters from Generals Stewart and Harris, containing the Accounts of the Engagements on the 6th March and 7th May 1779; and Major General Baird's Report of the Storming of Seringapatam; - And An Appendix, Containing Translations of the Principal State Papers found in the Cabinet of Tipoo Sultaun; and other important Official Papers. Together with A Dedication to the Right Hon. Henry Dundas, &c. &c. &c. by M. Wood, Esq. Colonel, and Late Chief Engineer, Bengal." Tipu Sultan was the Muslim ruler of the Indian kingdom of Mysore from 1782 until he was defeated and killed by British troops in 1799. The frontispiece engraving of this volume shows Tipu's Tiger, originally a mechanical toy created for Tipu Sultan himself. In the toy, now exhibited in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the carved and painted wood casing represents a tiger savaging a near life-size European man. Mechanisms inside the tiger and man's bodies make one hand of the man move, emit a wailing sound from his mouth and grunts from the tiger. In addition a flap on the side of the tiger folds down to reveal the keyboard of a small pipe organ with 18 notes. The tiger was created for Tipu and makes use of his personal emblem of the tiger and expresses his hatred of his enemy, the British of the East India Company. The tiger was discovered in his summer palace after East India Company troops stormed Tipu's capital in 1799. Alexander Beatson (17581830) was an officer in the East India Company's service. As lieutenant, he served with the Guides in Lord Cornwallis's campaigns against Tippu Sultan. Eight years later, as a field officer, he was surveyor-general with the army under Lieutenant-General Harris, which captured Seringapatam in 1799. Major-General James Hanson Salmond (17661837) was an officer in the East India Company's Forces who went on to be Military Secretary to the East India Company.