antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
122.LA CONDAMINE,
Charles Marie de.
Journal du Voyage fait par
ordre du roi, a l’Equateur, servant
d’introductions historique a la
mesure des rois premiers degres du
Meridien. [Together with:] —Mesure
des trois premiers degres
du Meridien dans l’Hemisphere
Austral ….
Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1751 [22280] £1800
2 works bound as one, 4to. Contemporary full speckled calf,
gilt titles and decoration to spine, all edges red, marbled
endpapers. Volume I: 6 engraved maps and plates (5 folding),
engraved head piece pp. (xxxvi), 280, table, xv. Volume II: 3
folding engraved plates, engraved head piece, pp. Title, [12],
266, x. A fine copy.
FIRST EDITIONS. The second volume is the official account
of the great French Scientific Expedition to South America,
for measuring the arc of the meridian at the Equator for
more accurately determining the dimensions and figure
of the Earth.
INVALUABLE
123.LONG, Edward.
The History of Jamaica. Or, General
Survey of the Antient And Modern
State of that Island: with Reflections
on its Situation, Settlements,
Inhabitants, Climate, Products,
Commerce, Laws, and Government.
In three volumes. Illustrated with
copper plates.
London, for T. Lowndes, 1774 [17986] SOLD
3 volumes, 4to (261 × 208 mm). Contemporary tan sprinkled
calf, red morocco lettering-pieces and green morocco
numbering-pieces attractively gilt, covers with one-line gilt
rules. Each volume housed in a cloth-covered leather entry
slipcase. 10 engraved plates (1 folding) and 6 engraved maps
and plans (5 folding), engraved headpiece, woodcut vignettes.
Contemporary armorial bookplates to pastedowns (G. H. D.
Pennant). Joints and headcaps skilfully restored, some typical
light browning to the text, one or two minor tears to some
maps, the odd mark to text but a very clean set in a lovely
period binding, an excellent copy.
FIRST EDITION. “Based on private papers, public records,
and his own experience of living in Jamaica, this is an
invaluable vade-mecum to the social, economic, and
political life of Britain’s largest and wealthiest West Indian
colony. The book combines encyclopaedic detail with
polemics and propaganda; some sections are plagiarized
from other writers. The meteorology, botany, zoology,
medicine, history, and laws of Jamaica are all covered, but
The History of Jamaica is mainly consulted for its political
arguments and its commentary on slavery” (ODNB). “The
work is [also] important … because it presents a clear
picture of conditions in the island on the eve the American
revolution which was destined to bring ruin to so many
planters” (Ragatz, p. 200).
124.MAILLARD, Nicholas
Doran.
The History of the Republic of
Texas. From the discovery of the
country to the present time; and
the cause of her separation from the
Republic of Mexico.
London, Smith, Elder, and Co., 1842 [34896] £8000
8vo. Original dark green cloth, covers blocked in blind, spine
lettered gilt, yellow coated endpapers. Folding map outlined
in colour as frontispiece. Extremities lightly bumped, spine
faintly sunned, but an exceptional copy of this scarce book.
FIRST EDITION. Maillard was a British lawyer who arrived
in Texas in January 1840. He quickly settled in Richmond
and became co-editor of the Richmond Telescope. He was
also admitted to the bar by the Fort Bend County district
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 3: The Americas, Greenland and the Arctic
court. Maillard claimed to be making notes on the law,
but he returned suddenly to England eight months later
and began a campaign of fierce denigration of Texas.
The book is scathingly critical of the Republic, especially
its policy towards Mexico. Maillard claimed Texas was
“filled with habitual liars, drunkards, blasphemers,
and slanderers; sanguinary gamesters and coldblooded
assassins”. Those two Texan titans Stephen
F. Austin and James Bowie are labelled “the prince of
hypocrites” and a “monster” respectively. His book
was in sharp opposition to William Kennedy’s Texas:
The Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of
Texas (1841), a pro-Texas work then popular in Great
Britain. Ashbel Smith, chargé d’affaires to Great Britain,
stated that Maillard’s book failed to “produce the
slightest effect” upon the British recognition of Texas
independence, which was achieved on 28 June 1842.
Despite its obvious partiality, the book is valued for its
excellent account of Indians in Texas in the early 1840s
and the accompanying map. It is rare in commerce,
especially in fine condition.
125.MARRYAT, Frank.
Mountains and Molehills. or
Recollections of a Burnt Journal.
London, Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, 1855 [25900]
£750
8vo. Bound in recent full burgundy morocco, gilt titles
and decoration to spine, gilt rule to boards, marbled end
papers, top edge gilt. 8 colour plates and 18 black and white
illustration from design by the author. Text a little toned, else
in very good condition.
FIRST EDITION of this classic sportsman-tourist’s chronicle
of California in the early 1850s: hunting, horse races, bear
and bull fights. It also includes an Englishman’s bemused
comments on social life in San Francisco, Stockton, and
the gold fields.
0 1