Beadle's New York Dime Library, No. 108

"The Duke of Diamonds; or The Flower of Calcutta," by Captain Frederick Whittaker, is a serialized romance spanning 1857 to 1877. The opening chapter depicts the execution by cannon of the Rajah of Krishnapoor for rebellion during the Indian Mutiny; the Rajah goes defiant to his death after taunting the English Resident who sought hidden wealth. The narrative then shifts twenty years forward to 1877 aboard the P&O steamer Benares, where passengers include the Honorable Lorelia Lawton and her niece Helen Lawton ("the Flower of Calcutta"), noted beauties of India. Among admirers is Clarence Hart, an American whose observations of weather portend a typhoon. The tale combines imperial adventure with shipboard romance, mixing colonial conflict with drawing-room social dynamics.