Percival´s account of Ceylon
Klubbat för:
3800 SEK
Utropspris
3 000-4 000 SEK
Beskrivning
CEYLON-SRI LANKA. PERCIVAL, ROBERT. An Account of the Island of Ceylon, containing its History, Geography,s Natural History, with the Manners and Customs of its various Inhabitants, to which is added, The Journal of an Embassy to the Court of Candy... The Second Edition: With an Appendix, containing some Particulars of the recent Hostilities with the King of Candy. London (printed by and for C. and R. Baldwin) 1805.
4:o (280x213 mm.). (3), vi-xii, (2), (1)-446 pp. Engraved frontispiece (some soiling, browned on verso in the margins), 1 folding engraved map, coloured in outline (some soiling, mended tears in the foldings), 3 folding engraved plans (some soiling), 4 engraved plates (some darkening).
Modern dark brown half morocco binding, crack in upper hinge, gilt spine in six compartments. Some offsetting from plates to text, minor foxing or staining.
Robert Percival (1765-1826) travelled to Ceylon in 1797 where he seems to have remained for three years, he published the above work in 1803. He describes the effects of Portuguese and Dutch rule citing instances of Dutch cruelty and treachery, he also the population, economy and main towns of Ceylon. The work is abound with curious and important information.
At end inserted an extra folding engraved map, coloured in outline, of the southern part of India and Ceylon, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, undated, and engraved by J. and C. Walker (about 1830).
From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013).
Auktionsnummer:
6282
Datum:
2015-06-16