antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
146.BLACKER, Lieut.-
Colonel Valentine.
Memoir of the Operations of the
British Army in India, during the
Mahratta War of 1817, 1818, &
1819.
London, Printed for Black, Kingsbury, Parbury, and Allen,
1821 [37765] £875
4to (275 × 220 mm). Folding mezzotint frontispiece,
opening to 850mm, and one smaller folding panorama,
slightly cropped into the key text, 6 folding tables, 2 folding
orders of battle, 8 folding maps and 34 battle plans, the
majority double-page or folding, most with hand-coloured
dispositions. Frontispiece slightly foxed, title browned and
slightly creased, light browning else and mild off-setting from
some maps or plans, one of them creased, but overall a very
good copy contemporary calf, black morocco label, spine gilt
in compartments, rubbed and fairly crudely, but effectively,
rejointed, marbled edges.
FIRST EDITION. Blacker served in the Mysore Campaign
of 1799 as a Cornet in the Madras Cavalry, a year later
acting as Colonel Stevenson’s aide-de-camp in Wainad,
before returning to his regiment campaigning in the
Southern Provinces of Madras under Colonel Agnew, who
thanked him “having surprised a party of the enemy and
for a successful charge with the troop of cavalry under his
command” (ODNB). His later career was in the Quarter-
Master General’s Department of which he became head
in 1810. In 1815 he was with the army of reserve in the
Deccan under Hislop, and two years later he served under
him at the battle of Mehidpur and other operations in the
Deccan. “His services at Mehidpur and the reconnaissances
made by him before the battle were specially brought to
the notice of the governor-general. He was made CB in
1823.” Blacker was subsequently appointed Surveyor-
General of India. This excellent history of the most
important campaigns in which he served, a key source for
the period, is touchingly dedicated “To the Officers of the
British Army in India”; “Fellow Soldiers, The original object
of Dedications, to gain currency for a Work under the
patronage of some powerful name forms no part of the
motive with which I address you … That you will never
have a more zealous historian, I may venture to affirm;
and with assurances of the just pride I feel, in belonging
to the same Army with yourselves, I remain, Your most
devoted and faithful Comrade …”
Bruce 4168.
147.BLAKISTON, Thomas W.
Five Months on the Yang-Tsze; With
a Narrative of the Exploration of its
Upper Waters, and Notices of the
Present Rebellions in China.
London, John Murray, 1862 [27679] £475
8vo. Publisher’s red cloth, lettering to spine and decoration
to front board gilt, elaborate blind tooling, small university
library stamp to front pastedown. Frontispiece. Illustrated
throughout with 15 plates and 8 illustrations in text by Alfred
Barton, and two folding maps by Arrowsmith. Spine expertly
restored, corners lightly bumped, inner hinge repaired, owner’s
name to half title, minor occasional foxing mostly confined to
last few pages and the maps, else clean. An attractive copy in
very good condition.
FIRST EDITION. Thomas Blakiston (1832–1891) was
a Captain with the Royal Artillery and a keen traveller
and explorer. After serving in the Crimean War and
participating in an expedition through Canada between
1857 and 1857, he travelled to China where he organised
and led the expedition up the Yang-Tsze. He went on to
travel upstream 900 miles further than any westerner had
previously gone.
148.BRINKLEY, F. (Captain)
[Oriental Series] Japan and China Its
History, Arts and Literature.
J.B. Millet, Boston & Tokyo, 1901 [22277] £475
12 volumes. 8vo, 250 x 180mm, Publisher’s green cloth titles
to spine, gilt design to centre of front board, top edge gilt.
Illustrated with coloured and black and white photoprints of
portraits, views, objects, etc. some fading to spines, otherwise
very good.
Library edition. Limited to 1000 copies of which this is
number 493.
149.BUDGE, Sir E.A. Wallis.
The Monks of Kûblâi Khân,
Emperor of China, or the History
of the Life and Travels of Rabban
Sâwmâ, Envoy and Plenipotentiary
of the Mongol Khans to the Kings
of Europe, and Markôs who as Mar
Yahbh-Allâhâ III became Patriarch
of the Nestorian Church in Asia.
Translated from the Syriac.
London, The Religious Tract Society, 1928 [39798] £100
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 4: Asia including Russia
8vo. Original blue cloth title in gilt to spine and in blind to the
upper board, in dustjacket. Frontispiece and 15 other plates,
illustrations to the text. A very nice copy the dustjacket a
little rubbed and soiled, chipped head and tail of the spine,
lacking a small strip of the lower panel, but largely complete
and attractive.
FIRST EDITION. Important documentation on the dealings
of the îl-Khâns of Persia with the Mongol Christians and
the downfall of the Nestorian Church in China, Central Asia
and Irak.
150.[BURTON, Major
Reginald George]
Wellington’s Campaigns in India.
Division of the Chief of Staff
Intelligence Branch.
Calcutta, Superintendent Government Printing, India, 1908 [37280]
£450
Small 4to. 6 maps and plans on a folding sheet in end-pocket.
Ex-Colchester Garrison Officers Reference Library copy, issue
slip to the front pastedown – showing that it was never issued
before de-accessioning – and ink stamps with cancellation to
the prelims, but the contents overall very good in the original
native half calf on red linen boards, rubbed, spine scuffed and
with a small chip from the tail.
FIRST EDITION. Uncommon, COPAC locates the British
Library copy only. This copy numbered 951 on the upper
board, no stated print run. Burton (1864–1951) served
on the General Staff AHQ in WWI; Dardanelles, MID, 1915;
GOC Madras, 1918–1919: he was also “interpreter in
Russian; big-game hunter and naturalist; corresponding
member Bombay Natural History Society; contributor to
leading Reviews on these subjects, and on history and
the art of war” (Who’s Who). He was latterly a military
historian and author of From Boulogne to Austerlitz:
Napoleon’s Campaign of 1805, among other works.
0 1