Observations on the manners and customs of Italy, with remarks on the vast importance of British commerce on that country; also, particulars of the wonderful explosion of Mount Vesuvius, taken on the spt at midnight, in June, 1794. When the beautiful and extensive city of Torre del Creco was buried under the blazing river of lava from the mountain. . . .By a gentleman authorized to investigate, the commerce of that country with Great Britain. .

8vo. viii, 269 pp. = a final leaf of ads. Original light blue boards, drab paper back strip, joints and head and tail of spine expertly reinforced with Japanese tissue; wanting label. With faults a very attractive copy.

First edition. One of the more interesting English accounts of Italy in the late 18th century. Not a lot is known about Brooke beyond what he reveals in this book. In 1785 he was asked by Sir George Yonge to investigate British commerce in Italy, and he arrived in Leghorn in January of the following year; there he remained a member of the British factory for eleven years. Most of the letters in this volume describe a visit Brooke made in 1794 to deliver a letter from Lord Grenville to Sir William Hamilton. The series concludes with five letters of 17965 from Pisa, where Brooke had gone to recover from an unsuccessful operation for cataracts (hence the use of opium), and five letters of 1797 where his warehouse was seized by the French.

Pine-Coffin 794. CBEL II, 1430.