About this Book
First Edition, 24 hand-colored aquatint plates, 4pp. of advertisements (“Oriental Works Lately Imported by Black, Parry & Co. Booksellers to the Honourable East India Company”, 1 July 1814) at end, 3 small spots on title but generally very clean, half red morrocco gilt by Roger de Coverley [Abbey Travel 517; Lust 386], 4to, J. Nichols, London, 1814.
The views include that in India, Malaysia, Macao, Canton and St Helena. Wathen’s early travel journal started when the ship Hope set off from Gravesend in 1811. He sailed to India and China with Captain James Pendergrass, an old school friend and includes his lively commentaries on the botany, food and cultures he experienced during the voyage. This is a remarkable firsthand early account of an oriental voyage through the eyes of a British traveler from the colonial period.
Provenance: William Orme Foster (1814-1899), bookplate of Apley Park bookplate. Foster, an iron master and Member of Parliament for South Staffordshire from 1857-1868, purchased the Apley Park estate near Bridgnorth in 1868; by descent to the present owner.
A beautiful, collector’s item!
