first edition Full Straight-Grained Morocco, Decorated with a Gilt Greek Key Border
1813 · London
by Williamson, Captain Thomas and F. W. Blagdon, respectively. Artist: Charles Doyley
London: Edward Orme, 1813. First Edition. Full Straight-Grained Morocco, Decorated with a Gilt Greek Key Border. Very Good Plus. 4to. 27 by 21 cm. 149, [9] pp. 20 hand-colored aquatint plates. Abbey Travel 440. Tooley 184. As the title makes clear, this is about the collision of colonizer and colonized, and the more personal experience of the Englishman in India, with its people, its sights and sounds. Although stereotypes and prejudices abound, the text is told with a light touch, as it was meant to entertain as well as inform, and the plates truly allow us to see India through the eyes of a Regency gentleman. Lovely contemporary red straight-grained morocco binding, with gilt Greek key border, blindstamped band of palmetto within that, a spine of raised bands and elaborate gilt tracery. Some rubbing and scuffs to the leather, but still very attractive. Occasional finger smudging and other soiling but overall, clean and bright within.
(Inventory #: 004197)