The Calcutta Gazetteer

Content

Open the Gazetteer — the handouts as physical props, set in period type on aged paper.

The Gazetteer is the portfolio of papers put into the investigators’ hands on arrival in Bengal, presented as the objects themselves rather than plain text. It currently binds in:

• A Griffin’s Vade-Mecum — extracts from Williamson’s 1810 guide with Meg’s corrections crowding the margins in her own hand. Plain copy: A Griffins Vade Mecum.

• The City of Palaces — some account of Bengal, its government, its commerce, and its two cities, privately printed. Plain copy: The City of Palaces.

• The Maps — Calcutta and its environs in four engraved plates: the river, the city, the compound, and Simms’s great survey of the streets with the story’s places as toggleable red-ink layers. Click any plate to examine it closely. Plain copy: Calcutta City Map.

• The Season — the month’s engagements as the cards and clippings on the hall table: the Magistrate’s invitation, the Gazette advertisements, and Meg’s memorandum. Plain copy: Calcutta Season Calendar.

• The Papers — the documents that have come into the party’s hands, bound in as they are found:

  • The Escort’s Letter — the Town Major’s assignment of Havildar Pratap Singh, presented on the landing steps at Chandpal Ghat. Plain copy: Pratap Singh Introduction Letter.

  • The Magistrate’s Card — Ashworth’s dinner invitation, brought by his chuprassy on Saturday evening. Plain copy: Ashworth Dinner Invitation.

  • The Bill of Fare — the menu of Ashworth’s welcome dinner at Garden Reach, laid at the ends of the table in the same office hand as the card. Plain copy: Ashworth Dinner Menu.

  • Harcourt’s Letter of Introduction — Harcourt to Renwick, carried by the party under the Wrexham seal. Plain copy: Harcourt Letter to Renwick.

  • The Salisbury Letter — Mr Duffield of Salisbury to Miss Wentworth, five months at sea and waiting at the agency house. Plain copy: Wentworth Letter From Salisbury.

  • The Intercepted Letter — Brotherhood correspondence partially decoded in Harcourt’s pencil, from the Palais Modena briefing: five of eight, the eight cities, the arrow to Calcutta. Plain copy: Session 4 handouts, Chapter 3.

  • Letter from Calcutta — Ghosh to Herzfeld, recovered from the Vienna University assault. Plain copy: Session 13 handouts, Chapter 3.

Further papers will be bound in as they reach the compound.

Context

Every paper in the Gazetteer also exists as a plain page on this site. The Gazetteer editions are the props: the same words as they would look on the table.

Relationships

• Related to A Griffins Vade Mecum — The first paper bound into the portfolio
• Related to The City of Palaces — The second paper bound into the portfolio