antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller
187.MACPHERSON, David.
96
The History of the European
Commerce with India. Two which
is subjoined a Review of the
Arguments for and against the Trade
with India, and the Management of
it by a Chartered Company; with an
Appendix of Authentic Accounts.
London, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Browne, 1812 [39684]
£250
4to (285 × 215mm). Modern Indian quarter sheep on
patterned paper covered boards. Folding map. Light browning,
sporadic foxing, off-setting from the map, spine scuffed, joints
cracking, else very good.
FIRST EDITION. Macpherson’s most celebrated work was
his Annals of Commerce, Fisheries and Navigation, which
established him as a leading authority on the history of
Britain’s overseas trade. This, his final work, “opposed
Adam Smith’s view that the East India Company’s
monopoly was detrimental to the development of trade
between India and Europe” (ODNB).
Goldsmiths’-Kress no. 20505.
188.MARSHALL, Sir John.
Taxila. An Illustrated Account of
Archaeological Excavations carried
out at Taxila under the Orders of the
Government of India between the
Years 1913 and 1934.
Cambridge at the University Press, 1951 [39610] £2000
3 volumes 4to. Two text volumes and a plate volume. Original
sienna buckram, title gilt to spines, gilt roundel to the upper
boards. 246 plates, some folding, in separate volume.
Endpapers foxed and browned, some sporadic light foxing,
else a very good set, spines sunned.
FIRST EDITION. As Director-General of Archaeology in
India in 1913 Marshall “… inaugurated the systematic
exploration of the ancient Taxila, near Rawalpindi, a
project which was to occupy some part of his attention
for more than twenty years. The results … justified his
persistence. For a thousand years (500 BC–AD 500) Taxila
had been both a local capital and a trading station on an
arterial route into India; with it were associated the names
of Alexander the Great, the Buddhist king Asoka, King
Gondofares, St Thomas, and Kaniska. It was also a major
centre of classically influenced Buddhist art” (ODNB). An
excellent set of this meticulous record.
189.MEADOWS, Thomas
Taylor.
The Chinese and their Rebellions,
viewed in Connection with their
National Philosophy, Ethics,
Legislation, and Administration,
to which is added, An Essay on
Civilization and its Present State in
the East and West.
London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1856 [37272] £1250
8vo. Folding map frontispiece coloured in outline and 2 other
similar maps. Some mild foxing, otherwise an exceptionally
nice copy in the original mauve taupe embossed cloth, title
gilt to spine, corners a little soft and bumped, spine sunned
and slightly crumpled head and tail.
FIRST EDITION. Having studied Chinese at the University
of Munich, Meadows was employed as interpreter at the
Canton consulate on the day that the Treaty of Nanking was
ratified, “My Chinese experience commenced, therefore,
with the inauguration of a new era in Anglo-Chinese
intercourse.” Meadows’s closely observant residence in
the centre of events over the following thirteen years,
combined with his use of a wide range of Chinese sources
make his “one of the most interesting interpretations of
Chinese society and civilization offered by Western writers
of the nineteenth century” [Kung-Chuan Hsiao, review of
the 1955 reprint in Pacific Affairs]. Much on the Taipings.
190.MICHENER, James, &
Jack Levine.
Facing East. I. Text by James
Michener, Original Lithographs
and Woodcuts by Jack Levine. II.
Sketchbook by Jack Levine.
New York, Maecenas Press, Random House, 1970 [37679] £350
Folio. The text portfolio printed on bifolia of Arches,
accompanied by 4 lithographs signed in the stone pulled on
Rives and an original woodcut on Kanawaka Japanese Vellum.
The 54 water-colours, gouaches and drawings in the sketchbook
printed by phototypie and pochoir on single leaves of
Ingres paper, “from two to forty colours were hand-brushed
on each”. “For this edition of FACING EAST the four original
lithographs were printed by The Bank Street Atelier, New
York. The typography and original woodcuts were printed by
Fequet et Baudier, Paris. The sketchbook was printed by Daniel
Jacomet, Paris. The portfolios were executed by Adine, Paris.”
The text in the original modernized maruchitsu-style box in
white moiré silk with leather strap closures, the sketch-book
in limp black leather, unlined, both housed in the white moiré
silk covered drop-back box with leather strap fastenings, this
outer box a little soiled.
Limited Edition, this number 648 of 2500, signed by author
and artist on the limitation leaf, additionally signed inside
the lid of the box.
191.MONTALTO DE JESUS,
Carlos Augusto.
Historic Shanghai.
Shanghai, The Shanghai Mercury, 1909 [31071] £250
8vo. Original blue cloth, titles to upper board and spine gilt,
brown coated endpapers, top edge gilt. With a folding map,
folding chart and numerous plates. Some minor spotting,
spine cocked and faded and with some rubbing at the edges.
Very good.
FIRST EDITION of this authoritative work. The author,
a polyglot born in Hong Kong (1863–1927), also
wrote an historical account of Macao in English, first
published in 1902. Includes sections on the Opium
Wars and General Gordon.
192.MOOR, Edward.
A Narrative of the Operations of
Captain Little’s Detachment And of
the Mahratta Army, Commanded
by Purseram Bhow; during the Late
Confederacy in India against the
Nawab Tippoo Sultan Bahadur.
Printed for the Author, London, 1794 [26475] £650
4to. Original buff paper boards, paper title label to spine
printed in black. 7 plates, 3 of coins, one of an inscription,
one plan, and 2 topographical, folding map of the “Marches
of Captain Little’s Detachment … Elucidatory of the Narrative
of their Operations; constructed chiefly from Authentic and
Original Surveys and Materials, in the possession of Major
Rennell; to whom this Map is inscribed.” One leaf a little
carelessly opened with trivial marginal loss in upper margin,
boards a trifle marked and lightly rubbed. An extraordinarily
well-preserved.
FIRST EDITION. Little was Adjutant of the 8th Battalion
of Sepoys at the Siege of Mangalore in 1782–3, “one of
the most gallant achievements of modern times” (The East
India Military Calendar, 1826, Vol. III, p.468). In 1790 he
was selected to lead a detachment of two battalions of
native infantry and a company of artillery formed to cooperate
with the Mahratta army under Purseram Bhow in
operations against Tipu. The siege of Darwar, one of the
earliest actions in which the detachment was involved,
dragged on for upwards of six months due to the “…
inactivity and strange tactics of our Mahratta Allies, on
whom the detachment wholly relied for material …” (ibid.
p.469). Other notable actions include the siege of Hooly
Honore and of Simoga, and the defeat of the army under
Reza Sahib, “one of Tippoo’s most esteemed generals”,
at Gadjnoor. At the conclusion of the war Little was
placed in command of the garrison at Surat, “then one of
importance” and was afterwards appointed quartermaster
of the Bombay army, which position he held until his death.
The author, Edward Moor, was as previously mentioned
present at many of the engagements recounted. He
was wounded whilst leading the leading company in an
assault on the hill fort of Doridroog and was especially
commended for his conduct for his rôle in the victory at
Gadjnoor. Following the war he returned to England on
sick leave, during which time he had the present work
published. He returned to Bombay in 1796, and in 1799
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 4: Asia including Russia
was appointed garrison storekeeper there, holding the
post until his departure from India in 1805. “The state of
his health precluding his return to India, Moor retired from
the Company’s service in 1806, receiving a special pension
for his distinguished service in addition to his half-pay”
(DNB). In his retirement he published a number of works,
the most important of which was The Hindu Pantheon,
1810, “which for more than fifty years remained the only
book of authority in English upon its subject” (ibid.) He
was elected a member of the Asiatic Society of Calcutta
in 1796, of the Royal Society in 1806, and of the Society of
Antiquaries in 1818; he was one of the founder members
of the Royal Asiatic Society. He died in 1848.
193.MUNDY, Captain
Rodney.
Narrative of events in Borneo and
Celebes, down to the occupation of
Labuan: from the Journals of James
Brooke, Esq. Rajah of Sarawak,
and Governor of Labuian. Together
with a narrative of the operations
of H.M.S. Iris … With numerous
plates, maps, charts, and woodcuts.
London: John Murray, 1848 [21593] £750
2 volumes, 8vo. Contemporary purple diced calf, contrasting
red labels, gilt spines, covers ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers
and edges. With numerous plates charts and woodcuts. Light
rubbing, an attractive set.
FIRST EDITION of this key source for the biography of Sir
James Brooke (1803–1868), army officer and first raja of
Sarawak, the epitome of the British romantic “orientalist”
and one of the icons of early Victorian imperialism.
Mundy accompanied Sir Thomas John Cochrane to Borneo
in 1846, where, in co-operation with Brooke, Mundy was
engaged for the next six months in a brilliant series of
operations against the Borneo pirate tribes, carefully
described here. Mundy took formal possession of Labuan
on 24 December 1846.
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