A discussion of the book J R B Jeejeebhoy’s Bombay Vignettes Explorations in the History of Bombay

Release of ASM Journal Volume 91

We are happy to share with you that on 25^th November 2023, on the occasion of the Foundation Day of the Asiatic, the Society has released Volume 91 of the ASM Journal. It has come to the Society's notice that some unscrupulous elements are collecting money for publishing papers in the Society's Journal and offering bogus certificates. The Asiatic Society does not collect money for publishing in its journal, nor does it guarantee publication, and neither does it issue any certificate. Authors must verify with the Society before submitting any papers, and papers will be published only after rigorous peer review and editing. The Society does not take responsibility for any payments made to third parties claiming to represent the Society, or for their papers appearing in a cloned/spam journal. Ours is a print-only journal.

The Asiatic Society of Mumbai
cordially invites you to
a discussion of the book

J R B Jeejeebhoy’s Bombay Vignettes
Explorations in the History of Bombay

The editor, Murali Ranganathan,
will be in conversation with Naresh Fernandes

Date and time: Friday, 12th April 2019, at 5.30 p.m.
Venue: Kitab Khana.

- Prof. Vispi Balaporia, Hon. Secretary

About the book
Bombay Vignettes is a selection of J R B Jeejeebhoy’s writings on historical Bombay. Drawing on a wide range of printed and manuscript sources, Jeejeebhoy paints a vivid picture of the city. His subjects include historical vignettes and contemporary images of the city; its public institutions, especially those associated with the law and judiciary; famous Bombay denizens like Pherozeshah Mehta, Rudyard Kipling, and James Mackintosh; and the relationship of the Parsi community to the city. From describing the advent of moving pictures in Bombay and complaining about the perennial problem of rash driving in the city, to remembering the long-forgotten first Indian judge of the High Court of Bombay and recalling the prevalence of slave trade in the city, Jeejeebhoy ranges far and wide.

An important addition to the shelf of Bombay books, J R B Jeejeebhoy’s Bombay Vignettes will appeal to all lovers of the city.

J R B Jeejeebhoy, (1885–1960), celebrated as a leading city historian of Bombay during his lifetime, has been largely forgotten in death. His major publications include Some Unpublished & Later Speeches & Writings of Sir Pherozeshah Mehta (1918), Dr. Sir Chimanlal H. Setalvad, a Biography (1939), and Bribery and Corruption in Bombay (1952). For nearly four decades, he wrote numerous long and short pieces on Bombay, and exposed various facets of its history to public view for the first time. Linking the past to the present, he was perhaps one of the first to be concerned with city heritage and its loss.

Murali Ranganathan is a Mumbai-based researcher with interests in the nineteenth century. He has translated Govind Narayan’s Mumbai: An Urban Biography from 1863 and edited The Collected Works of J V Naik: Reform and Renaissance in Nineteenth Century Maharashtra.