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OLIPHANT, Margaret
Manuscript - ALS - Scottish Novelist & Historical Writer
Scotland, circa 1850s. Manuscript signed note by Scottish novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897), penned on her own stationery which bears a curious dragon and cross insignia incorporating her first name. The recipient may be the wife of Robert A. Purdie, publisher for The Scottish Minstrel issued in Edinburgh. Single leaf measuring approximately 8,5 x 13 cm, written recto only. Very good condition with original signature. The letter reads as follows: "Dear Mrs. Purdie Pardon me for not replying at once. I only returned yesterday afternoon from a short absence. Tired. It will give me great pleasure to dine with you on Monday. Very truly yours, [signed] M.O.W. Oliphant Thursday morning" Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (1828-1897), was a Scottish novelist and historical writer. In 1849 she had her first novel published: "Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland". In 1851 she met publisher William Blackwood in Edinburgh and was invited to contribute to the famous Blackwood's Magazine. The connection was to last for her whole lifetime, during which she contributed well over 100 articles, including a critique of the character of Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Scarlet Letter". In 1852 she married, and by 1859 she had become a popular writer, working tirelessly to sustain her position. Unfortunately, her home life was full of sorrow, having been widowed and having lost three of her six children. In January 1864 her only remaining daughter Maggie died in Rome, leaving her with two sons. In 1866 she settled at Windsor to be near her sons who were being educated at Eton. From Windsor, she continued a varied literary career including works of supernatural fiction, and in the 1880s she became the mentor of the Irish novelist Emily Lawless.
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De NAVARRO, J.M.
Prehistoric Routes Between Northern Europe and Italy Defined by the Amber Trade. - 12
Author: J. M. de Navarro Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1925. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Well illustrated with in-text sketch maps, as well as a large fold out colour map which identifies amber from the bronze age and the early iron age uncovered in central Europe, the author describes the tremendous influence of amber on communications from the North Sea to the Baltic. The author presents a neatly outlined study of the Central routes, the Western routes, and the those in the East, drawing on the expertise of men such as Gottlieb Schumacher, and concluding with a proposed timeline of excavation and trade. The ancient trade route now known as "The Amber Road", is thoroughly examined from an archaeological standpoint, and makes links between civilizations, ultimately showing that pre-historic trade shaped the histories of the continent by the contact it induced among them. For example, the graves and antiquities of the Aunjetitz [Unetice] people settled along the Elbe river, contained antiquities of amber, most likely sourced in Jutland [the Cimbrian Peninsula] to the north. 8vo. 28 pages, plus a fold out color map for illustration. Map measures approximately 63,5 x 39 cm. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the introduction: "Apart from a few stray references we have no written records concerning Central Europe and its inhabitants before the time of Caesar and Tacitus... this report shows that the study of prehistoric amber finds, and their distribution, casts no little light on the human geography of that region during the second and the last millenium of the pre-Christian era. ...In prehistoric archaeology, concerned as it primarily is with the more material aspects of civilization, the study of trade relations is of peculiar importance..." End Excerpt. Amber is fossilized tree resin (not sap), which has been appreciated for its color and natural beauty since Neolithic times, and valued from antiquity to the present as a precious gemstone. The Amber Road was an ancient trade route for the transfer of amber from coastal areas of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. Prehistoric trade routes between Northern and Southern Europe were defined by the amber trade. As an important raw material, sometimes dubbed "the gold of the north", amber was transported from the North Sea and Baltic Sea coasts overland by way of the Vistula and Dnieper rivers to Italy, Greece, the Black Sea, Syria and Egypt thousands of years ago, and long after.
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WORDIE, J.M.
Jan Mayen Island - 03
Title: Jan Mayen Island. Author: J. M. Wordie Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Featuring a mountaineering adventure up the Beerenberg volcano, Wordie provides a firsthand account of the 1921 expedition led by botanist James Laurence Chaworth-Muster, which had set forth to the Arctic island most reputed for being difficult to locate and therefore infrequently visited, owing to its incessant cloud and mist cover - Jan Mayen. Objectives for the expedition included the ascent of Beerenberg, which was then reported as an active volcano and discovered to be extinct, collecting natural history specimens and performing glaciological studies, the latter to be undertaken by Professor Mercanton of Lausanne. He also includes a historical overview of the island, centering around volcanic activity and its history in the whaling era, from the 1600's when first documented by Danish and British whalers, to the eighteenth century when at least one whaler claims to have seen volcanic eruptions, and visits by Scoresby and Lord Dufferin in the nineteenth century. Photographic plates show Egg Bluff, Jameson Bay, the Norwegian Ekerold Wireless Station which was receiving messages daily, Bombelles Mountain, the lava crater near English Bay. A folding map highlightds Beerenberg and other peaks. 8vo. 16 pages, plus a fold-out sketch map and photographic plates, including a panoramic view. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "Jan Mayen is small in size... the extinct volcano of Beerenberg, with the exception of certain nunataks in Greenland, is the highest mountain within the arctic circle..." "... it was essential to undertake the ascent of Beerenberg at once.... The climbing part - Mercanton, Lethbridge, and myself - went up to spend the night at the tent on August 10... surprise to find a small cairn... No real difficulty was experienced, therefore, until at 7200 feet a broad crevasse had to be jumped - one of those awkward uphill jumps... We made a stay of nearly two hours at the highest point" "Glaciers, it may be stated, are confined to Beerenberg." End Excerpt. James Lawrence (Jim) Chaworth-Musters (1901-1948) studied geography at Cambridge University, though his career led him into biology and zoology. From 1920 until the outbreak of the Second World War, he partook in various scientific expeditions, with a particular interest in mammals and birds. He joined the Royal Geographical Society in 1921. A collection of his drawings of whales and plants, executed mainly in Norway between 1921-1928, is part of the Chaworth-Musters collection held at the University of Nottingham. A new species of mouse, 'Musterii', was discovered by and named after him in Afghanistan. In the 1930s and 1940s he undertook voluntary work at the British Museum (now the Natural History Museum). In 1946 he was appointed as Assistant Keeper in the Department of Zoology. In 1939 he was working as British vice-consul in Norway. He was fluent in Norwegian, as his parents had owned a house at Aarnes in Norway and the family took regular holidays there. James lived at Surnadal in Norway in the 1920s. He was recruited to the Special Operations Executive when the Germans invaded Norway in 1940, and was employed by the Norwegian Government in exile to interrogate escapees from Norway. Beerenberg is a 2,277 m (7,470 ft) stratovolcano, the world's northernmost subaerial active volcano, which forms the northeastern end of the Norwegian island of Jan Mayen. It is topped by a mostly ice-filled crater about 1 km (0.6 mi) wide, with numerous peaks along its rim including the highest summit, Haakon VII Toppen, on its western side. Recorded eruptions occurred in 1732, 1818, 1851, 1970, and in 1985.
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GATHORNE-HARDY, G.M.
A Recent Journey to Northern Labrador - 03
Title: A Recent Journey to Northern Labrador. Author: G. M. Gathorne-Hardy Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: An important account, this represents the first recorded discussion on Labrador's ancient multi-tiered rectangular stone structures, which at the time were known to few very people and had no certain historical connection. Some 62 years after this discussion and the author's first observations, his theories of their makers were finally scientifically confirmed, the formations now being known to have been built by prehistoric Thule Neo-Eskimo people. To resolve this archaeological question which they themselves drew attention to for the first time, the Gathorne-Hardy cousins, Geoffrey a Norse expert, and Robert a young enthusiast of archaeology, ventured together to Sculpin Island in the Nain region of Newfoundland to investigate firsthand. They proposed that the stone structures were either built by the Norse or by Norse-influenced Inuit, and would return for further digging and investigation in 1932. The Gathorne-Hardys' notable work piqued the interest of others who subsequently investigated the relics, Tanner in 1941, Wenner in 1947, and Matthews in 1971 who believed that construction was most likely effected by Inuit who had been influenced by the 16th century European visitors. Not until 1984 was the long-standing question finally answered, when a number of sites between Hamilton Inlet and Okak containing multi-tiered and single tiered rectangular stone structures, and also individual structures, were mapped, tested and excavated. Drilled slate and nephrite endblades, and tool fragments indicated that the rectangular structures were built and occupied by prehistoric Neoeskim groups. Sod house villages dating to the precontact and early contact Neoeskimo period were also visited by Kaplan. Two sod house forms probably in use between the lst and 17th centuries were identified and chalcoal sanples from the structures are being dated. 8vo. 17 pages including two sketch maps, plus photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "... keenly interested in archaeology, it was an archaeological problem which I proposed primarily to investigate... there are very few who have seen it at all, and fewer still to whom it can be said to be at all well known." "... To give an idea of the inaccessibility even of such a place as Nain, I may mention the experience of a Newfoundland canoeman, who accompanied Mr. Hesketh Prichard and myself in 1910...." "... With Eskimo remains, however I was only indirectly concerned, as something likely to throw light on the main problem which I was anxious to investigate. This was that of the Tunnit, an extinct race, said to be of non-Eskimo origin, remains of whose stone buildings were alleged to exist on various islands off the Labrador Coast..." "... I did not myself believe that these ruins could have anything to do with the earliest voyages described in the sagas, but... when the Greenland colony fell on evil times, as it did before its final extinction in the early fifteenth century, some venturous spirits might have tried to find a more desirable home in the lands discovered by their predecessors." "... On adjacent highlands we found the graves... Perhaps a richer mine for objects... found in the turf walls and floors of old houses... Robert... discovered a good many old stone weapons...the ground was plentifully littered with flakes... several implements... things not typical of the local culture... also unusual implements of bone and walrus ivory..." End Excerpt. Geoffrey Malcolm Gathorne-Hardy (1878-1972) was an English soldier, writer and Norse specialist. He fought in the Boer War, losing a finger. Called to the Bar in 1903, he was in Norway in 1905, when the country gained independence, and he learned Norwegian as well as some Danish and Icelandic. In 1910 he travelled with H. Hesketh Prichard from Nain, Newfoundland and Labrador to Indian House Lake on George River, and contributed a chapter on fishing to Prichard's Through Trackless Labrador (1911). In 1920, he made a second journey to northern Labrador, this time with his cousin Robert Gathorne-Hardy, which is described in the present volume. During the First World War he had a foot amputated, was mentioned in despatches, and awarded the Military Cross and the Croix de Guerre (Belgium). From 1921 to 1966 he wrote and published several books. Robert "Bob" Gathorne-Hardy (1902-1973) was an English garden writer. Though he also wrote fiction (Lacebury Manor, Other Seas) and some bibliographical works, he is best known for his books on plants that he researched while growing in his garden, or about plants that he collected in different parts of the world. He also had a keen interest and knowledge of archaeology, which was the reason for accompanying his cousin Geoffrey on the expedition to northern Labrador in 1920. Sculpin Island is an island in Newfoundland and Labrador, situated between Badger's Quay and Pool's Island.
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TEICHMAN, Eric.
Journeys Through Kam (Eastern Tibet) - 01
Title: Journeys Through Kam (Eastern Tibet). Author: Eric Teichman Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Complete with a superbly detailed fold-out colour map showing his route, boundaries, towns and settlements (in Tibetan and Chinese names), Teichman's exciting preliminary account reveals his very important and thorough explorations in Tibet, on the basins of the rivers Salween, Mekong, Yangtze and Yalung, between the latitudes of Jyekundo and Atuntze. With vivid imagery he highlights the most remarkable features of the high mountains bordering the Yangtze, the Ong Chu Valley, and the gorges of the Mekong, Yunnan, Jyekundo. To this he adds remarks on the caravan trade routes through Tzachuka, on old Tibetan forts, on big game and birds, and on various Tibetan groups and nomads. Teichman is recognized for his meticulously detailed work on his expeditions to Tibet, which he later imparted in a well-known book published later in the same year. Titled, "Travels of a Consular Officer in Eastern Tibet together with a History of the Relations between China, Tibet and India," the narrative is as exemplary as are his works and experiences in some uncharted regions. 8vo. 19 pages, plus a large fold-out color map measuring approximately 52 x 37 cm, and photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "The secret of successful and agreeable travel in Eastern Tibet is to depend as much as possible on the natives, the native animals, and the native produce... no tinned stores of any kind are needed..." "... Eastern Tibet, inhabited by one of the hardiest races of the world..." "All this region from the Yalung to the Salween is known to the Tibetans as Kam... The Kambawa (natives of Kam) are considered rather a wild and barbarous race by the more highly civilized Tibetans of Central Tibet... The real wild men of Tibet are the nomads of the north-east..." "It is hoped that the heights of the principal mountains of Kam will some day be ascertained by scientific measure....." "We marched up the Yalung for about a week... a swift dark green stream, flowing through alternate gorges and stretches of cultivated valley, at an average of 11,000 to 12,000 feet... thickly dotted with monasteries which serve as religious centers for the surrounding nomads... The Bon sect is generally understood to be a relic of the old nature worship... compromised with the invading Buddhism... much of the lamaistic ritual reversed..." End Excerpt. British diplomat, explorer and orientalist, Eric Teichman (1884-1944) first went to China in 1907 as a student interpreter in the consular service. Assigned to the Northwest, he rose to be a consular officer and in 1917 accompanied some Chinese officials on numerous trips throughout Shaanxi, Sichuan, and Gansu Province to investigate compliance with the Anglo-Chinese Opium Treaty. Despite the fact that he suffered from severe arthritis and the crippling effects of an earlier riding accident, he continued to travel extensively, returning home from his 1919-1935 Beijing-embassy posting by way of Turkistan.
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MILL, Hugh Robert
Speeches at the Unveiling of the Shackleton Memorial
Title: Speeches at the Unveiling of the Shackleton Memorial. Author: MILL, Hugh Robert. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1932. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is a fascinating report on the Memorial held for an acclaimed hero and visionary explorer. At the Invitation of the Memorial Committee, the company assembled in the Hall of the Royal Geographical Society at 3:00 PM on Saturday the 9th January 1932. These are the proceedings of this meeting. Excerpt from the text: "Twenty-three years ago today, on 9 January 1909, Shackleton stood on the summit of the ice-cap 400 miles nearer the heart of the Antarctic than any predecessor, though still 100 miles from his hoped-for goal. Weary, hungry, cold, and disappointed he yet tingled for triumph in the greatness of his achievement..." End Excerpt. 8 pages, including a frontis illustration of the Shackleton memorial. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton, 1874-1922 was the famous British Antarctic explorer. The first of his voyages to Antarctica was made as a member of the expedition (1901-4) of Robert F. Scott. Shackleton was invalided home in 1903, but the experience gained on the Scott expedition aided him greatly as commander of a south polar expedition (1907-9). In the course of this expedition Mt. Erebus was ascended, the south magnetic pole was located, and the polar plateau was crossed to a point less than 100 miles from the South Pole. The scientific results of the expedition were of vast importance. Knighted in 1909, Shackleton published that year an account of his expedition, The Heart of the Antarctic. As commander of a transantarctic expedition, he set out in 1914, planning to enter the Weddell Sea and cross on foot over the south polar region to the Ross Sea, a distance of c.2,000 mi (3,200 km). When his ship Endurance was crushed in the ice in October 1915, he led his party some 180 miles to safety at Elephant Island; from there Shackleton with five companions in a lifeboat made a voyage of c.800 mi (1,290 km) through wild seas, then crossed rugged, glaciated South Georgia Island to reach (May, 1916) a whaling station on its north coast. Shackleton rescued his Elephant Island party and later returned to the Weddell Sea to pick up others left there earlier in the expedition. His South (1919) is an account of the whole expedition. In 1921 Shackleton sailed on the Quest to study Enderby Land but died on ship and was buried on South Georgia Island.
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ROBERTS, Brian
The Cambridge Expedition to Vatnajokull - 04
Title: The Cambridge Expedition to Vatnajokull, 1932. Author: ROBERTS, Brian Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1933. Notes & Condition: An interesting summary of previous expeditions to Vatnajokull includes those of Swedes Wadell and Ygberg in 1919, the crossing from north to south and back again by the Dane, J P Koch in 1912 and the first crossing made in 1875 by Englishman, W L Watts. Roberts suggests that despite earlier efforts, knowledge of the glacier remained limited: the western and north-eastern edges were practically unexplored at the time and only one detailed map existed and that featured only the glacier's southern edge. Objectives for the Cambridge Expedition included plans to ascertain the thickness of the ice of Batnajokull and to carrout an ecological survey of representative areas, both in the desert region to the north of the ice and the coastal belt on the south. In order to maximise their time on the ice, the expedition decided to reach the central district with sledges across the ice-cap from Heinabergsjökull, rather than rely on earlier methods of travel (with ponies). The expedition was organized on a scale larger than anything previous and included geologist and zoologist F W Anderson; surveyor J A Beckett; botanist P Falk; W L S Fleming, geologist; W V Lewis, seismologis and surveyor and B B Roberts, ornithologist and leader. Setting out from Hull on June 22, the steam trawler, Lord Balfour of Burleigh, landed at Hornafjörour in the south east of Iceland four days later. The first part of the journey involved a transfer (with ponies) from Höfn to Kálfafellsstaour and the top of Heinabergsjökull, at which point the expedition continued on skis and sleds. Soft surfaces for the first week delayed the party but eventually they were rewarded by the sight of Kverdfjöll. At Brúarjökull a geological survey of the area was carried out, followed by botanical collections at Vítisvegur. Appendices feature notes on place names; the work of the surveyors - that is, the construction of two maps; geological data; Fleming's geomorphology and glaciology; a botany section which looks at the flora in Kverkfjöll and the desert as far north as the oasis Havannalindir and also on the south coast; zoology - examining the difference between scarcity of life in the desert and the teeming life of the oases, as well as meteorological notes from J A Beckett. Excerpt from the text: "Although the Icelandic glaciers far exceed in size those of the European mainland, the history of their investigation is very limited, and the knowledge we possess at present is largely due to the Icelander Thorvaldur Thoroddsen, who travelled extensively through the country from 1881 to 1898. His published work contains the most complete description so far of the island and its glacial conditions, but, despite the fact that the study of Icelandic glaciers is chiefly connected with Vatnajokull, our knowledge of this area is very limited. This amazing report picks up where the other expeditions left off to cover an in depth exploration of these natural marvels. End excerpt. 25 pages. Plus black and white plates and a large fold-out color map, measuring 13 inches x 13 inches. These are original text pages and a map printed in 1933. Stamp to the margin of the map and one plate, otherwise in very good condition. Attractively bound booklet style in recent paper covers with label. Vatnajokull is the largest ice-cap in Europe. It lies in the south-east corner of Iceland and covers an area of approximately 3400 square miles.
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WARD, F. Kingdon
Through Western Yunnan - 09
Title: Through Western Yunnan. [With Color Map] Author: F. Kingdom Ward Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1922. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Renowned plant collector and explorer Francis Kingdon Ward describes a journey made in 1921 from Lashio in British Burma (Myanmar), to Kunlong, through a Yunnan valley he describes as, "thinly populated... poor... well cultivated, and [with] astonishing quantities of opium hidden away in the remoter nooks." Moving onward to ascend the Mekong Divide, he passed guarded villages and fascinating cities, crossed mountain ranges and valleys, and through regions well known for its brigands, along the way remarking on the people, commerce, geography and of course the flora. In the environs of Yungpeh, he describes well-wooded ranges sparsely populated but for a few tribes such as the Lao-p'ang which the Chinese accused of being prolific robbers. Finally reaching his destination in Sichuan - the early seventeenth century Muli Dasi monastery, home to the great lama - which still today serves as home for the Living Buddha of Muli, who holds the highest status in Tibetan religious culture. Ward would make this his residence for the following five months. Perched above the Litang river, it was the largest of three Buddhist monasteries in the area. He remarks on the Moso [Mosuo], a minority people among the region's seventeen ethnic groups, and on the breathtaking scenery of virgin forests and hundreds of soaring 900 peaks. 8vo. 21 pages, plus a fold-out color map measuring approximately 30 x 22cm, and photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpts from the text: "A journey from Lashio, the terminus of the Northern Shan States railway in British Burma, to Muli over the Szechwan border took me through some of the less-known parts of Yunna, and it is of the unfamiliar route that I write..." "Climbing the range in front of us we reached a pass of 11,260 feet above sea-level, and from the summit obtained a fine view of Chinese Tibet... below was the Yungning lake, a vivid sapphire... a small rock crowned by a white monastery, the peaceful home of the high lama..." "... we resumed our journey to Muli... to a village called Lichiangtze... june 7 we reached the monastery of Muli, above the Litang river, or Li Chu, as it is called here, and I was given quarters in the house of the cobbler." "Amongst the three or four Europeans who have passed through Muli on their travels are Mr. [Edvard] Amundsen the missionary, General H. R. Davies, and Mr. R. F. Johnston; but I venture to think that not one of them received the welcome accorded to me in 1921 at the hands of the grand lama... I had reached my destination...." End Excerpt. Francis "Frank" Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958) was a highly respected English botanist, explorer, plant collector and author. In 1913 he explored and collected in Yunnan and Tibet, and in the following year he made the first of his many visits to north Burma. He made some 22 expeditions over a period of nearly fifty years, exploring Tibet, North Western China, Burma (Myanmar) and Assam (now part of North Eastern India). In Burma he also conducted forestry research with native botanist Chit Ko Ko. Travelling in the mountains and valleys of Burma and adjacent areas, he traversed the unexplored country on the Burma-Tibet frontier in 1922, 1926 and again in 1930-31. He became one of the most important plant hunters in Asia and Southeast Asia in the mid-20th century, making a substantial contribution to botanical science. Muli lies on the border of Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, just north of the famous lake of Lugu. Until 1953 it was a Gelugpa Buddhist kingdom. The monastery at old Muli [Mili], is situated 120 km north of the county seat, in what is now the Muli Tibetan Autonomous County. It once housed more than 700 monks. It was originally built in the early Qing dynasty, took 12 years to build and was completed in the 17th year of the reign of the Shunzhi Emperor, around 1600. Present day Muli little has changed very little since Ward's visit - aside from the practice of robbery and pillage, that is. It has officially been open to tourism only for a few years, at the turn of our century. Ward's journey was contemporay to that of Austrian-American explorer and botanist Joseph Francis Charles Rock (1884-1962) who also studied the flora, peoples and languages of southwest China, mainly in Yunnan, from 1922-1949.
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PHILIPPS, J.E.T.
"Mufumbiro" - The Birunga Volcanoes of Kigezi - Ruanda-Kivu - 04
Title: "Mufumbiro": The Birunga Volcanoes of Kigezi-Ruanda-Kivu. Author: J. E. T. Philipps Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Featuring a firsthand sighting of the now critically endangered mountain gorilla of Rwanda, fascinating observations of isolated tribes and in particular their religious customs, vivid descriptions of little-travelled mountain regions, and commentary on volcanic eruptions, British commissioner of the Kigezi district of Uganda, Captain Philipps recounts an expedition to the Virunga Mountains which he made in 1919. Also pertaining to the various indigenous tribes, he describes native homesteads enclosed in euphorbia fences at the foot of the mushroom like craters in the lava plains of lakes Buleru-Ruhondo, inhabitants of the sub-district of Mlera, the system for cattle quarantine on a northern islet of lake Bunyoni, and so forth. Some local vocabulary is translated. Some of the wild game of the Birunga range, described herein, includes the now highly endangered gorilla, the lion, the buffalo, the hippopotamus, and the profusely hunted red Duiker antelope. The most comprehensive view of the volcanoes, Philipps states, was from a small hill where the Belgian post of Ruchuru was situated, however the most impressive view was in the British district of Kigezi, from the lip of the Behungi ridge. His account imparts much geographical detail on the volcanic wonders lying in Kigezi, as well as hot springs, and the Kigezi caves near Muhavura, Ruanda, and Kivu. As a colonial administrator, naturally, he further assesses the political boundaries within. Interesting to note, this account was published four years after his journey, and only a few months before the League of Nations granted Belgium the right to govern Rwanda, on 31 August 1923. Philipps wrote a 'classified' report in 1919 in which he described the secret societies of Africa and the Nyabingi practice. 8vo. 26 pages including in-text sketch maps, plus additional photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. [The University of Massachusetts Amherst holds letters written by Philipps in respect to his colonial administration in Uganda and Rwanda.] Excerpt from the text: "The Ruanda language, probably the most difficult of the Bantu tongues, is not spoken outside the Urundi-Ruanda plateau. Incidentally there does not exist even now any Enlgish-KinyaRuanda interpreter, black or white. There is little communication between the plateau and the lowlands... Arab slavers and alien raiders equally failed to penetrate this realm..." "The only road from British territory thus climbs the Behungi hill through bamboo forests..." "According to native tradition, almost unanimous among the three tribes at the western end of the range, major eruptions in the Birunga occur at a cycle of eight years... two violent explosions... in November 1920, when a part of the southern wall of the Kwerunga crater was blown out..." "Regarding gorillas: In March 1919, when about the 13,000-feet level on Mount Muhavura... I saw emerge from a thicket of hagenia trees and lobelia... two large hairy heads... The chest... black and bare... enormous apes. over six feet in height, and of enormous girth... standing fairly erect... they prepared to descend over a short cliff. At the edge the male appeared to assist the female with his arm... No knowledge then existed as to the presence of gorilla in British territory... the Duke of Mecklenburg's expedition in 1905 failed to obtain confirmation of the presence of gorilla in the Birunga [Virunga] range... I am inclined to think that this is at present the only district within the Empire where gorilla are known to exist..." "The Sultan of Ruanda is in a sense a personification of the deit Imana... The spirit of man is believed to remain dormant and inoperative until after death... The pontiff is the Liangombe, apotheosized hero-kin, protector of mankind against malevolent spirits... " "The BaChigga tribesmen of Kigezi and Ruanda... at their harvest-home... indulge in wild drinking orgies, often lasting three or four nights and days and accompanied by a species of Dionysiac rites. Murders at this point are frequent..." End Excerpt. The Mufumbiro volcanoes consist of a chain of imposing cones that rise out of the lava plain of the western rift in the extreme south-west of Uganda. The mountain range is made up of volcanic highlands over 1,500 meters, which was often referred to as "the Roof of Africa", and where some of the ultimate sources of the Congo and the Nile were found.
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BUXTON, L.H. Dudley
Present Conditions in Inner Mongolia - 06
Title: Present Conditions in Inner Mongolia. Author: L. H. Dudley Buxton Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Buxton's journey into Mongolia took place during the Mongolian Revolution which had begun in 1921, and which in 1923 would end Chinese occupation over Mongolia and expel the Russian White Guards. The civil war created disorganization and delay with rail travel and on the trade routes, causing alternate planning now and then, but also revealing to Buxton the political relations between Mongolia, Russia and China which were effecting consequential changes to the area. As one who was deeply captivated by the history of human races migrating, coexisting and eventually integrating with one another, there could not have been a more opportune time for his journey, in spite of the unsettled conditions surrounding him. The journey began at Kalgan (Zhangjiakou). As Buxton enters regions of Mongolia not yet penetrated by the Chinese agriculturalist, he describes the Mongol ways of life, with much appreciation for their fortitude, and holding special respect for their ability to travel long distances by camel. He describes temporary travel encampments, small remote villages consisting of yurts, and pastoral plains housing herd of Mongolian ponies. In other regions he describes the rapid encroachment of Chinese farmers, and Chinese traders who are quick to follow suit. A substantial immigration of Arabic speaking Chinese Muslim groups who claimed to come from as far as Samarkand was taking place at the time, and causing great uneasiness among the Mongols who did not trust these particular foreigners. Learned on the subject, Buxton presents a most captivating perspective on the ebb and flow of humanity which had taken place for many hundred years over the stretch of country between the Great Wall of China and the Gobi Desert. He discusses Chinese influence in Mongolian culture, achieved through trading outposts in particular, at times the traders and agriculturists moving towards the ambiguous boundaries of the desert, and at times being pushed back by the pastoral inhabitants of Mongolia. He concludes with a theory of imminent decline of Mongolian tradition, and predicting a dynastic northern expansion into Mongolia. The report pre-dates the Buxton's books, "The Eastern Road", which was published in 1924, and "The peoples of Asia" published in 1925. 8vo. 21 pages, plus photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "The region described in this report was known to the Chinese as the Country of Long Grass. It lay just beyond the Wall on the great trade route from Kalgan to Urga... it was my good fortune to ride through a small part of the land at a particularly interesting time. When I left Peking, Wu Pei Fu and Chang Tsao Lin had just started to fight, and as I went down the pass leading to Kalgon on his return, I met scattered bands who had decided after the manner of Chinese soldiery that for the time being, at least, they were better employed as civilians. ..." "Our purpose in visiting the Grass Lands... if possible to see something of the Mongols themselves... To all those of us whose fortune it has been to gallop with these wild horsemen across the plains, to sit round an argul fire in their felt tents, and to watch lambs being folded in the evening... want to go back there again." "A number of Mongols are always to be met with on the road in charge of the caravans... their dark blue tents near the road soon after leaving Sinhwa, but did not meet a more permanent settlement till we came to Chahar-hara... the first big truly Mongol settlement..." "The caravans pass and disappear between the hills, and the only human things are the little villages of the Mongols." "The struggle to my mind almost resolves itself into a study of the position of the boundary between the agricultural civilization, proudly called by the Chinese the Middle Kingdom, and the barbarian pastoral nomads, to describe whom the Chinese expended all the vituperation..." "The great mobility of the nomads and the stability of the tillers of the earth..." "The Mongol, even though there may be rumours of brigands on the road, prefers the old-time custom and sleeps outside..." "The revolution of 1911, which removed the yoke of the Manchus and at the same time their protecting influence, is possibly the most important political fact for Inner Mongolia." "Lamaism is entirely dominant, although some of the old shamanist rites still survive... traditional magic forms and ceremonies... Sheeps and goats are sacrificed... two-thirds of the adult male population become lamas and take vows of celibacy." End Excerpt. Leonard Halford Dudley Buxton (1890-1939) was an anthropologist and professor who carried out work in India, China, the USA, Mesopotamia and in Malta. In 1912 he obtained a distinction in the Diploma in Anthropology at Oxford University. He subsequently taught physical anthropology there. In 1913 he was appointed Demonstrator in Physical Anthropology and undertook fieldwork in Cyprus, under the auspices of the Archaeological Expedition of the British Association. Buxton undertook some craniometrics and was, for example, involved in examining archaeological material from Crete and Mesopotamia, although his interest was more in general ethnology and in recording the patterns of human anatomy and race from around the world. One of his students was American anthropologist Henry Field, whom he accompanied on an expedition to Iraq. Buxton was a member of the Department of Anatomy, and in 1922 was appointed Lecturer in Physical Anthropology. In 1927 he became the first Reader in Physical Anthropology at Oxford. For many years Buxton worked closely with British anthropologist Beatrice Blackwood who ran the Pitt Rivers Museum, until he died suddenly of pneumonia.
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WARD, F. Kingdon
From the Yangtze to the Irrawaddy - 07
Title: From the Yangtze to the Irrawaddy. Author: F. Kingdon Ward Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: An important primary source account, and well-rounded preliminary reveal of a monumental journey which would become especially appreciated for its great contribution to Asiatic botanical science. Ward began his expedition in Yunnan and traverses the high mountain country inhabited by Tibetan tribes, from the plateau east of the Yangtze, to proceed down into the tropical regions of Northern Burma - finally completing a journey which he had envisioned in the past but had not been able to achieve until this time. As Ward recounts his journey, through his vivid descriptions of unique geography perfectly adorned with exotic flora, he virtually revives some exquisite locations of Burma which have since largely been devastated by protracted civil war. Naturally, he describes the most striking and unique of fauna and flora, including some especially magnificent rhododendrons. Glacial landscapes and the apparent deglaciation and decreasing precipitation in some little-known regions, are also brought to light. In terms of geography and hydrography Ward observes characteristics of the Mekong river, the dry limestone plateau east of the Yangtze to the rain-drenched igneous ranges beyond the Salween, the 'Tibetan Marches,' Yunglin, the Tzu, Nam Tamai, and the Yunnan plateau. Along the way, he notes the unique customs of the various tribal groups encountered, such as the Lisu, Kachin, Kiutzu and Nungs. Of British colonial interest, the Fort-Hertz at Putao, Hkamti Long, finds its place in these pages. [The fort was constructed by the British after the annexation of Myanmar, for the purpose of defending British interests in that area. During the British administration Mr. W.A. Hertz (CIS) was assigned as the first resident of Putao. Consequently, the Fort was named "Fort-Hertz" in his honour. This project was supported by the Royal Society, its aim being to record rapid changes in landscape, climate and botany in the exceptionally lush region, and also to collect rare and unusual plant specimens. Ward's course of travel was through Yunnan, Kinkiangkai, Yungning, Lijiang, Atuntze, through the Tibetan tribal areas, to Nonghkai in the Shan region, and eventually down to Myitkyina in Burma in 1923. In doing so he crossed both the Mekong and Yangtze rivers, and for the first time, crossed from Western China to the Irrawaddy in Burma. Ward imparted the full account of this expedition in a book titled, "From China to Hkamti Long," which was published in London in 1924. The book saw only one edition, making it exceedingly scarce today and highly collectible, being one of Ward's more important botanical works. So stated in the preface of his book, in 1922-1923 the highly respected plant hunter and explorer travelled "westward from the Yangtze, across the narrow strip of the earth's crust where the great rivers of South-east Asia escape from Tibet and through the jungles which hide the headwaters of the mighty Irrawaddy, Burma's great river..." The preliminary account presented here precedes the printing of the book by one year, and is a valuable primary record of the same. 8vo. 14 pages, plus a full page sketch map and photographic plate for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Francis "Frank" Kingdon-Ward (1885-1958) was a highly respected English botanist, explorer, plant collector and author. In 1913 he explored and collected in Yunnan and Tibet, and in the following year he made the first of his many visits to north Burma. He made some 22 expeditions over a period of nearly fifty years, exploring Tibet, North Western China, Burma (Myanmar) and Assam (now part of North Eastern India). In Burma he also conducted forestry research with native botanist Chit Ko Ko. Travelling in the mountains and valleys of Burma and adjacent areas, he traversed the unexplored country on the Burma-Tibet frontier in 1922, 1926 and again in 1930-31. He became one of the most important plant hunters in Asia and Southeast Asia in the mid-20th century, making a substantial contribution to botanical science.
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KOCH, Lauge
Preliminary Report on the Results of the Danish Bicentury Expedition to North Greenland - 08
Title: Preliminary Report on The Results of the Danish Bicentenary Expedition to North Greenland. Author: Lauge Koch Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: As contemporary as can be, this Arctic report was presented in England while its author, celebrated and accomplished explorer Lauge Koch, was still in Greenland tirelessly charting regions yet unknown - the northernmost extremities of Peary Land. From the Danish Arctic Station at Disko, Greenland, Koch dispatched this detailed progress report of the Bicentenary Jubilee Expedition, which began in 1921 and would continue until 1923. Polar ice pack blockades, shortage of food, an especially hazardous climb of an ice-cap glacier, crossing fissures, even infections and fever were overcome by the party of four, who, already at this point in the expedition, had achieved so much. Loch's report continues with scientific works completed and a history of the Peary Channel. Together with three Eskimos, Koch conducted and survived a strenuous 200-day sledge journey along the north coast of Greenland, well within the Arctic Circle, around Peary Land and back across the Inland Ice. Over the period of some 50 years, Koch led 24 Danish expeditions to Greenland, and on this particular journey, one of his earliest, Koch discovered a depression which in his opinion was the one that Robert Peary in 1892 had mistaken for a channel. As well, his observations of the interior of Independence Bay led to considerable cartographic changes when compared with the Peter Freuchen map of 1912. The sledge journey began at the headquarters at Robertson Bay in Inglefield Land, travelling passed Humboldt Bay, then via Fort Conger in Canada to Nyeboe Land, to De Long Fiord, into Independence Fjord and returning over the inland ice. The results of his charting were published as the "Atlas of North Greenland" containing 24 maps. 8vo. 14 pages, plus 2 full page sketch maps for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpts from the text: "In 1921 Denmark celebrated the Bicentenary of her last colonization in Greenland, and in the same year supremacy in the whole of Greenland was conceded to Demark by the other nations interested. Thus it seemed to become a national duty... the investigations and surveys of the last remaining portions of the coast, the section from De Long Fiord to Cape Bridgman, the most remote and inaccessible part of Peary Land." "At last we reached the summit... All Peary Land was laid bare before us like an enormous map... Like a flash it struck me: This the Peary Channel. This must be the great depression seen by Peary twenty-eight years ago...the big frozen lake... the land leading from the Polar Sea to the head of Independence Fiord. Peary thus was fully justified in believing that this depression meant a channel, and it is most admirable to see the approximate correctness with which he indicates its course." "... the Eskimo had contracted an itch-like disease by which we gradually all became infected... At the settlements the disease lasted throughout the whole summer, and several persons died from its attacks." "Abreast of the Victoria Fiord we met with an abundance of fissures... we went southwards towards the great depression behind Sherard Osborn Fiord and Warming Land, where in 1917 the second Thule expedition started on the desperate race for life across the inland which caused the death of Dr. Th. Wulff." "... we expected to find a depôt placed here by the Eskimo, but, as we learned later, the disease amongst the Eskimo had rendered this impossible. We now had only ten dogs left... The situation was most serious...The Petermann Glacier is in bad repute... Now we had no choice; we had to cross it... Men and dogs tied together... We had four dogs left, which meant life for four days." End Excerpt. Lauge Koch (1892-1964) was a Danish geologist and Arctic explorer, who made twenty-four (24) Danish government expeditions to Greenland, his work spanning almost half a century and beginning in 1913. He was the renowned leader of Greenland expeditions, and, the unfortunate central of attention in the Lauge Koch Controversy, an international and intra-national conflict. Amongst his other contributions to the sciences, in the mid-1930s Koch established a network of field stations and traveling huts in Central East Greenland. This establishment of a permanent infrastructure in the field caused a change in the whole culture and organization of Danish Arctic exploration. Koch was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the American Geographical Society in 1924, and its Daly Medal in 1930. In 1927 he was awarded the Patron's Gold Medal of the British Royal Geographical Society for his work in Greenland. Of the Danish Bicentenary Expedition to North Greenland, Koch stated, "This expedition completed the mapping of the north coast; and the only portion of the Greenland coast not travelled by a Dane at that time, i.e., the northern coast of Peary Land, was traversed." (Koch I 927)
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TOURS, B.G.
Notes on an Overland Journey from Chungking to Haiphong - 08
Title: Notes on an Overland Journey from Chungking to Haiphong. Author: B.G. Tours Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: With an investigative mission to observe adherence to the 1911 Anglo-Chinese Opium Agreement, at the behest of the British Legation at Peking, Mr. Tours undertook an expedition into Yunnan in 1917. Described here are his auxiliary observations, including coal mining, panning for gold in the Yangtze River, and especially captivating descriptions of the Miao people from Kweichow province [Guizhou]. Rather uncommon in accounts of this period, Tours provides noteworthy details of the Miao - a fascinating minority people group - describing their customs, industry, homes, and some history. Miao musicians are photographed, as are females donning the traditional costume of the Anshun region - pleated skirts and low v-shaped neckline. [The so-called short-skirted Miao of Datang, living along the slopes of Mt. Lei in southeastern Kweichow, were easily distinguished by their festive costumes which include a jacket with colorful and elaborately woven geometric designs and several layers of very short pleated skirts. The jacket was different from those of the other groups due to its very low neckline at the back. Today, most of the women in Datang wear an inner jacket, but as depicted here, there was no inner garment a few decades earlier.] This was a four-month journey, during which time the author travelled some 4,000 miles by foot, on a pony, by steamer and small boat, and on a sedan chair, his routes being outlined on a full page sketch map. At one important market town he calls Hingi, opium-growers were found to be resisting the mandated suppression of opium cultivation. At the time of his arrival, over two hundred men had been killed in the battle between growers and enforcers, and the fighting had not yet ceased. 8vo. 15 pages, plus a full page sketch map and photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "The delegates feasted me at Sungkan... senior Chinese delegate was an interesting companion... At Sinchan we met the special military escort sent from Kweiyang to accompany us through the province..." "The Chinese natives of Kweichow are a poor and unenterprising lot of people. Commerce in the province is almost entirely in the hands of Szechwanese merchants..." "The chief industry of the Tsunyi district is the weaving of silk cloth from 'wild' silk. The silkworm is fed on the leaves of scrub oak, the resultant thread being coarser than the mulberry-fed product... The looms are narrow..." "Nearing Ashun small fortification walls on the hills are conspicuous... built one hundred years ago as a defence against the Miao tribes which came down from the hills to raid the Chinese in the towns..." "There is no cohesion between the various Miao tribes... no less than seventy-six different Miao tribes of Miao people... The only Miao I heard of as being in any state of affluence are a few of the Black Miao in the neighbourhood of Chenyuan... its name from the wearing of black garments..." "The only industry I observed among the Miao, and also among the Lolo tribes in Eastern Yunnan, was the weaving and embroidery of cloth. This is all done by the women whose holiday clothes are marvels of barbaric beauty..." "... within 33 miles of the Shihtsung there was a specially fierce tribe of Lolos in the hills... on account of their accuracy with poisoned arrows no Chinese dared approach them. " End Excerpt.
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RODD, Francis
A Journey in Air - 08
Title: A Journey in Aïr. Author: Francis Rodd Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Pre-Dates Book! Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: Visiting the geographically breathtaking and ecological diverse Aïr Massif within the Sahara Desert, only five years after the devastation of French-Tuareg battle which annihilated numerous villages, Rodd provides an enlightening first-hand account of the Tuareg people groups, including the dominant Kel Owey. With the Cortier map in hand (the first map made of the Aïr, in 1912), and at times accompanied by a local guide, Rodd navigates through the vast mountain corridors and plains. He comes to previously thriving towns which had since been reduced to struggling villages, and also to newly emerging settlements. In the latter he learns a great deal about Tuareg custom including courting and marriage, child rearing, raiding practices, ongoing slavery, food preparation, construction of grass huts and stone houses, hunting which led to the extinction of the lion of Aïr, and more. A fascinating history of their origin also unfolds as he travels. Rodd's is a primary source account of previously unexplored places in Aïr, featuring an excellent and detailed account of the oasis village of Aouderas and some inhabitants whom he came to know well during his stay over the entire rainy season. References are made to Heinrich Barth, who had travelled through Northern Aïr in 1850, as Rodd follows Barth's route for part of his expedition. A lovely colour map illustrates his own route through mountains, plateaus, valleys and deserts, a most exciting journey. Rodd published the full account of this expedition in 1926, his book title being foreshadowed to in this paper, "People of the Veil: Being an Account of the Habits, Organisation and History of the Wandering Tuareg Tribes which Inhabit the Mountains of Aïr or Asben in the Central Sahara." 8vo. 22 pages, plus a fold-out colour map and photographic plate for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Excerpt from the text: "Aïr, apart from the fact that it is a comparatively unknown country, especially in England, is of particular interest to the traveller for two reasons. In the first place, it is a volcanic area of considerable extent in the Central Sahara, inhabited by an exceedingly interesting people, the Tuareg, or the people of the Veil; and in the second it occupies a prominent position on one of the oldest trade and cultural roads in the world...." "Between Kano and the south of Aïr we followed much the same road as Barth in 1850-1, but in the opposite direction... The country has been much deserted since the days when it was known as the "Granary of Aïr, subject to the Tuareg of the mountains, whose sultans ruled in Gamram, Jajiduna, Tademari, and Demmili, towns now either totally abandoned or reduced to small villages..." "T'in Wana and Eghalguen are two of a number of watering-points in this massif. The former is a ravine... arched sides carved with T'ifinagh inscriptions, the peculiar writing of the Tuareg, the use of which is almost extinct in Aïr." "The Tuareg in North Africa are divided into various groups... But they have no name for the totality of their people other than Kel Tagilmus, the People of the Veil." "... the Tuareg fall into very distinct categories of noble tribes, called Imajeghan, and seville tribes called Imghad, in addition, of course, to the slaves which they still possess, though the practice is forbidden; that is to say, there is no traffic in human beings, but master and slave continue to regard each other by mutual consent in the light of their original relationships." "Like most nomads, they are thieves and raiders by choice... they are poor... as tough as any race there is in the world. They can travel 120 miles twenty-four hours on one camel, and suffer the extremes of heat and cold alike... They never lose their temper..." "A Tuareg woman enjoys great freedom before her marriage, and has love affairs of a most romantic description. A man and girl will ride long distances to meet one another, and at no time are they subjected to censure or surveillance... children are admirably brought up..." "Auderas [Aouderas], especially famous for the magnificent grove of date palms, and the little village of Towar...Barth here records seeing a plough yoked to two slaves being used. The plough is not known in Aïr now." "The Kel T'intaghoda were Holy men, but that did not prevent them about the massacre of Barth's expedition on three occasions, when he camped here here..." End Excerpt. Major General Francis James Rennell Rodd, 2nd Baron Rennell KBE CB JP (1895-1978) was the second but eldest surviving son of the diplomat James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell. Fluent in no less than four languages, during the First World War he was an intelligence officer in France, Italy, North Africa, Egypt, Libya, Palestine and Syria. He then made two great expeditions into the central Sahara (1922 and 1927). The Aïr Mountains or Aïr Massif (Tuareg: Ayar; Hausa: Eastern Azbin, Western Abzin) is a triangular massif, located in northern Niger, within the Sahara Desert. The town of Agadez in the heart of the Tuareg country is the capital of Aïr. Much of the Tuareg population of Aïr until recently led a nomadic life, relying essentially on camel and goats from which they take milk, meat and skins used in the production of local handicrafts. Most sedentary populations were either dependents of higher caste Tuareg pastoralists or the Ikelan (Bouzou in Hausa / Bella in Songhai), former slaves and captives of the Tuareg from Hausa and other southern peoples. These peoples were settled in northern oases, to tend the date palm plantations held by the noble clans. In 1591 came under rule of the traditional polity of the Tuareg Sultanate of Aïr, and remained so until it was conquered by the French in 1900. The emergence of the French weakened the Tuareg Kels and provoked both infighting and resistance to colonialism. From the 1880s, Toubu raids increased. During an uprising against the French in December 1916, led by Tuareg chief Ag Mohammed Wau Teguidda Kaocen on his way to the siege of Agadez, many towns were destroyed. When the French retook Agadez in December 1917 a brutal punitive expedition through the Aïr left many formerly populous places abandoned, razed by Kaosen and the French successively.
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FINCH, Capt. G. Ingle
Equipment for High Altitude Mountaineering,with Special Reference to Climbing Mount Everest - 03
Title: Equipment for High Altitude Mountaineering, with Special Reference to Climbing Mount Everest. Author: Captain G. Ingle Finch Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1923. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: A most interesting post-expedition report from alpinist, scientist, and member of the historic 1922 British Everest Expedition, Captain George Ingle Finch, being a detailed and scientifically oriented look at the essential equipment and clothing required for the Everest ascent. Based, of course, on the inventions and scientific theories of his day, Finch specifies equipment necessary for the first and second zones, discusses oxygen equipment and the weaknesses of its administration by subcutaneous injection, comments on the desired gloves, head, foot and outer gear as well as necessary axes, ropes, thermometers, aneroids, cameras, essential food, and surprisingly, promotes the use of tobacco by suggesting positive effects from smoking at altitudes of over 25,000 feet. Finch supports all of the latter in relation to his personal experience as well as that of others in the climbing party, describing specific segments of their record-breaking ascent of Everest. An excellent firsthand account, not least because so very little of Finch's personal expedition diary has been published. This mountaineering expedition established new terrestrial altitude records when two separate parties, one climbing with supplementary oxygen and the other without, breached the 8000 meter barrier. 8vo. 14 pages. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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GREGORY, Prof. J.W.
Suess's Classification of Eurasian Mountains - 06
Title: Suess's Classification of Eurasian Mountains. Author: GREGORY, Professor J. W. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1915. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Overview of the contemporary (early 20th century) classification of the Eurasian Mountain systems and geologist and Alp expert, Professor Eduard Seuss' revised system. Features Seuss' explanations of the 'Primitive Nucleus;' the 'Altaid Zone;' the 'Posthumous Altaids' and the 'Marginal Arcs of Eurasia.' Proceeded by a discussion of the validity of the classification including remarks relating to the value of the mountain classification; the correlation of Europe and Asia; and the relations of the mountains of north-eastern Siberia. Excerpt from the text: "The traditional view of the arrangement of the mountains of Eurasia represents the Continent as traversed from the Pyrenees to Java in the south-east and to Bering Strait in the north-east by a connected series of mountain chains, which includes the Pyrenees, Alps, Carpathians, and Balkan Mountains in Europe, the Caucasus, the chief mountains of Persia and Afghanistan, the Himalaya and various adjacent chains, the western mountains of Burma, and the disrupted chain represented by the islands along the south-western coast of Sumatra..." End Excerpt. 17 pages, including 1 full-page sketch map. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Eduard Suess was a geologist, professor of geoplogy at the University of Vienna, and expert on the geography of the Alps. He is responsible for discovering two of the Earth's major now-lost geographical features, the supercontinent Gondwana (proposed 1861) and the Tethys Ocean. He developed views on the connection between Africa and Europe; eventually he came to the conclusion that the Alps to the north were once at the bottom of an ocean, of which the Mediterranean was a remnant. While not quite correct (mostly because plate tectonics had not yet been discovered, he used the earlier geosyncline theory), this is close enough to the truth that he is credited with discovering the Tethys Ocean, which he named in 1893. His other major discovery was that the glossopteris fern was found in fossils in South America, Africa, and India (as well as Antarctica, though Suess did not know this). His explanation was that the three lands were once connected into a supercontinent, which he named Gondwanaland, again not quite correct: Suess believed that the oceans flooded the spaces currently between those lands, when in fact the lands drifted apart. Still, it is similar enough to what is currently believed that his naming has stayed. Suess is considered one of the early practitioners of ecology. He published a comprehensive synthesis of his ideas in 1885-1901, entitled Das Antlitz der Erde (translated as "The Face of the Earth"), which was a popular textbook for many years. In this work Suess also introduced the concept of the biosphere, which was later extended by Vladimir I. Vernadsky in 1926. In his writing he did not explicity define the term.
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CANA, Frank R.
The Sahara in 1915 - 11
Title: The Sahara in 1915. Author: CANA, Frank C. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1915. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: With in-text sketch maps to illustrate his survey, the author endeavors to correct contemporary misconceptions of the Great Sahara desert; in reference to its geography, people, politics, commodities and trade. He also comments on European influence, railway communications and caravan routes, and speculates on possibilities in mineral exploits. Contains commentary on the Berbers. Excerpt from the text: "The exploration of the Sahara has been carried on, mainly by the French, with persistent energy during recent years. At the same time European control, not only of the Sahara itself but of the surrounding regions, is causing many changes in the social and economic conditions of the desert. The moment is therefore opportune for making a survey of the physical features of the desert in the light of the latest investigations, and at the same time for considering the altered conditions of the inhabitants, thier changing modes of life, the possibilities of economic development, and means of communication......The old notion of the Sahara as a boundless waste of shifting sand - a dried up ocean-bed below the level of the sea - persists in many minds...." End excerpt. A New Reconaissance of the Sahara - Mauritania - Morocco - Algeria - And Nomadic Berbers! 25 pages, including 2 sketch maps. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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SKRINE, C. P.
The Alps of Qungar - 11
Title: The Alps of Qungur. Author: SKRINE, C. P. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1925. Pre-Dates Book. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: Skrine's narrative describes his attempts to conduct a survey of the unexplored eastern face of the Qungur massif and particularly its offshoot in the Shiwakte Mountains, in the Qaratash valley - at the suggestion of Sir Aurel Stein, first to cross the Buramsal Pass and follow the Qaratash river to its debouchure 36 miles due south of Kashgar. Initially following Stein's route, Skrine proceeded, in 1922, from Strinigar to Kashgar through Gilgit, Hunza, Mintaka Pass and Takqurghan on a journey of two and a quarter years. He then explored the Qungur peaks, and made tours to Yarkand, Khotan and Keriya. Provides a fascinating insight into the lives of the indigenous Qirghiz; the glaciology of the region and reconnaissance notes on the Torbashi, Ghorumde and Kaying glaciers; botany of the meadows at Kaying Bashi and a survey of the Shiwakte group of mountains. Skrine considered his surveying to be little more than an amateur attempt but Major Kenneth Mason, cartographer working for the Survey of Indian authorities, compiled the topographical material into a map of the Qungur Massif area, details of the outcome outlined here. In addition, notes on plants collected. Accompanied by a spectacular, large, fold-out colour map and equally captivating panoramic photography. Pre-dates the author's book, "Chinese Central Asia", first published in 1926; 27 pages. Plus black and white plates, one of which is a fold-out panorama, and fodl-out color map, measuring 12 inches x 14 inches. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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Anonymous
Manuscript Journal - Swiss Mountaineering
Switzerland, 5-27 August, 1899. Manuscript fair journal recording a three week alpine adventure of mountain climbing, trekking, and exploring remote villages in the Pennine Alps, which features one ascent made to the summit of the Sasseneire with British reverend and mountaineer James Outram whom is best known for his pioneering ascents in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Also with mention of the fatal climbing expedition of Owen Glynne Jones which took place only days after the writer was climbing in the same mountain range in Valais. 8vo. 122 pages. Original black morocco binding and marbled endpapers, recent spine. Wear to extremities of boards, otherwise in very good condition, a pleasing and entertaining volume. A splendidly descriptive mountaineer's account of his adventures and explorations in the Pennine Alps and Saas Valley of the Canton of Valais, Switzerland, through majestic passes and quaint villages seldom visited by foreigners, and reaching at least two summits. The mountaineer is unidentified, although he is from England, possibly a reverend like Outram, and certainly a skilled writer. Text reveals that he had made a journey to Lake Geneva in 1897 and to Moutier in 1896. Some of the places visited include Évolène, Valais, Rhone Valley, Brig, Martigny, St. Maurice, Montreux, Glion, Vevey, Lausanne, Neuchâtel, Bâle, Saint Bernard (Mont Blanc), Trient, Visp, Sasseneire (mountain of the Swiss Pennine Alps), Villeneuve, Lake Geneva, Chillon, and Arolla, where he observes the nuances of local custom including dress and festivities. Of particular interest is the detailed account of summiting the Sasseneire with Reverend James Outram (1864-1925), a British clergyman, renowned mountaineer who made the first ascents of the Canadian Rockies. [Outram began climbing in the Swiss Alps, and went to Canada in 1900 with his brother, also a reverend, William Outram, only shortly after this journal was penned.] Whilst reflecting on his climb with Outram on the 19th of August 1899, amidst the peaks of Valais, he reflects on the fatal mountain climbing accident of famous Welsh mountaineer Owen Glynne Jones, who died on the 28th of August on the Ferpècle arête of the Dent Blanche. [Jones' guides Elias Furrer, Clemenz Zurbriggen and Jean Vuignier were also killed. The four men fell about 1,650 feet (500 m). Mr. F. W. Hill was the party's only survivor.] The diary begins with the adventurer's departure from London 5 August 1899, and provides captivating detail of the journey from urban centers, to vast open regions, first through the Italian Alps, then through the Lepontine Alps, where in the valley of the Wasenhorn crews were busy excavating for railway construction in the Simplon Pass. By 12 August the writer is climbing and trekking in the Saas Valley. He includes pleasing descriptions of the villages Saas-Gund, Saas-Fee and others, the Rossbodenhorn and a "little cabaret on the very edge of the rocky cliff" to which the party climbed up, interesting historical events, ruins, magnificent scenes, and so forth. Ending rather abruptly on 27 August, his final entry is made at Bâle. Excerpts from the manuscript: August 9. "Brig the terminus of the Jura-Simplon Railway at present is a busy little town of 1200 inhabitants situated on the Rhone... Being the starting point of the Simplon route to Italy gives it some importance. The town has a somewhat Italian element in it... has an old castle... Berisal, the 3º refuge 500 y’ we took however... Berisal is very beautifully situated high on a promontory rock, with a fine view. It is a good health resort. There we had lunch and while we were at it the diligences came in and changed horses..." August 10. "...Iselle. Here is the Italian custom house, they seem to be most particular about tobacco in Italy... Just beyond Iselle is the south entrance of the great Simplon Tunnel now in course of construction... commenced in 1898, and will be the largest in the world, 12 1/2 miles... It is to be completed in 1903, and the estimated cost will be £2.780.000..." August 12. "... The whole upper part of Monte Moro is a snowfield... the scene at the top of the pass is unsurpassed... absolute perfection. The amphitheatre of mountains consists of the majestic Monte Rosa group, flanked by the Punta delle Loecie, Pizzo Blanco, and Fallarkuppe.... the Saas Valley with the Bietsthorn of the Bernese Apls in the distance... The descent... also on snow for some distance but we glissaded a good deal to get down quickly... the descent is by the way of the Thalliboden glacier over huge masses of rock and boulder... 1200 ft takes about 3/4 hour... this valley is a rough and barren, desolate place... shows the effect of recession of the glaciers during recent times... There are 3 which have shrunk..." August 15. "Descended the Saas-Thal to Visp... Stalden is very picturesquely situated at the junction of 2 valleys... Sion the chief town of the Valais... ruined castle of Tourbillon" August 17. "... Vex is seen ahead... views behind of Sion & the Rhone are good... with the Dents de Veisivi & Pic d'Arzinol... Tête Blanche, the Dent Blanche & the Dent d'Hérens. The growth of vines, walnuts, chestnuts & maize extends as far as Vex." August 18. "Went to Arolla. Day most glorious. The Val d’Herens in which Evolene lies divides at Haudères 1 hour to the south of the village into two branches... Between them forming the projecting mass of mountains are the Grande & Petite Dents de Veisivi - the former 11.237’ is memorable as the mountain from which the Hopkinson fell in 1898. The father, eminent electrician, the son and 2 daughters, they fell and went dashed to pieces. They had no guide but were roped together... in the morning we saw the funeral procession of this poor woman who was killed by the land slip. The body was placed on one of the village carts and covered with a cloth, no coffin..." August 19. "Started at 5.45 am with Mr Outram & Mr Gall for the Sasseneire, 10,693, the mountain lying to the East of Evolena. The route early in the morning lies in shade for the first half. At first the path to Villa is taken. It then ascends the Alp Cotter in long zigzags & taking a wind bend to the N. We however did not keep to this but took a straight line up the mountain side, very steep in places... whether we saved time was doubtful, but Mr O had a large map with all the contour lines down & a compass and struck this way. After having got over the Alp with its grassy surface we had nothing but rough slatey debris to traverse till we got to the Col de Sarrent 9563... nothing but a narrow ridge all the way not wide enough for two persons... In 2 or 3 places it is broken... at the foot of one was a hole or chasm over which we had to jump. The actual peak was reached in this way... we rested some time till we got somewhat cold... The ascent took 5 1/2 hours. We then descended to the Col where we again waited... Mr. O. went along the opposite ridge towards the Pointe de Preylet like a goat and we saw him climbing a small rocky peak... Mr. Outram, the elder brother was English Chaplain at Evolena for the month of August. He is a great climber and experienced. Thursday he ascended the Dent Blanche - with a friend and 2 guides... The evening of following day I saw him arrive, he was very tired... very well however... It was only a few days after this that the fatal accident occurred when Mr. Jones & 3 guides were killed, and Mr. Hill his companion returned alone to Zermatt after hours... a very dreadful occurrence." [Also in the Arolla district, six days later, August 25, brothers James and William Outram accompanied by Jean Maitre, reached the summit of the Grande Dent de Veisivi by way of the unclimbed south ridge.] August 20. "Sunday is a good day for studying the natives - who are very distinctive in the Val d'Herens... more intelligent that the peasants in other parts of the Canton de Valais... " August 25. "...Another fine day, after breakfast we looked at Villeneuve, a small walled town dating from Roman times... as it is not a place for visitors we had equally good accommodation & food at much lower charge... The castle of Chillon dates from at latest the 9th century & was much added in the 13th century. It was the residence of the Counts of Savoy and then a state prison - now it is being restored... It is unnecessary to describe it further now, as I did so in 1897 except that its renovation.... There is an electric tram from Chillon..." August 27. "... Lausanne... took the 2 pm train for Bâle [Basel] via Yverdon & Neuchâtel... "The large Cocoa Factory of Suchard is near the station..." End Excerpts. Manuscript
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De Velez Bracho
Broadside - Dos Vistas De Toros - Bullfighting - Text in Spanish
Seville, 1843. Uncommon original broadside for two bullfights taking place at the Seville Plaza 16-17 April 1843, with very detailed programme details and a beautiful steel cut engraving which illustrates the sport in its traditional form - the matador being mounted. Printed by De Velez Bracho. Text is in Spanish. Folio. Single leaf measuring approximately 28,5 x 39 cm. Mounting paper to left margin, unobtrusive to text, otherwise in very good condition, clean and bright. "Con el Correspondiente Permiso Se Egecutarán Dos Vistas de Toros en los tardes del Domingo 16 y Lunes 17 del presente mes de Abril La Plaza será mandada y presidida por la Autoridad competente" [With permission two bullfighting events will take place in the afternoons of Sunday the 16th and Monday the 17th of April this year The Plaza will be directed and chaired by the competent authority] Especially interesting about this document is the woodcut illustration of a matador de toros (bullfighter) mounted on horseback while lancing his behemoth opponent. From ancient times to mid-nineteenth century, a bullfighter was mounted on a highly trained horse; while mounted he confronted and killed the bull. With skilled capework, a man on foot aided the horseman in positioning the bull. The capeman, in his precarious proximity to the bull, began to draw more attention from the crowd however, and the modern style corrida de toros (running of bulls) subsequently took shape, the bullfighter being face to face at ground level with the raging bull. The two famous and accredited matadors are named, including D. Francisco Taviel de Andrade, who had been performing at the Seville bull ring since 1832 (the same year in which he purchased land from the famous bullfighter Fernando Concha y Sierra; and Senior Conde del Aguila who bred his own cattle in his "ganaderia, and who may be a nobleman associated with the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso. Spectator fees ranged from 28 rs to 6 rs, be they watching from the "barandillas de piedra" (stone railings), the Balcones de sol (sun balconies), etc. [Spanish-style bullfighting today is in fact reverse to the traditional sport depicted on this broadside, each matador now being on foot and having as assistants two mounted picadores (lancers on horseback), as well as others on foot in the ring with him.] Construction of the circular Plaza de toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería de Sevilla began in 1749. Situated on Baratillo hill, it replaced an even earlier rectangular bullfighting building, and it continues to host one of the world's most popular bullfighting festivals including the Feria de Abril, and the most challenging of competitions. From 1786-88 under the reign of Carlos [Charles] III of Spain, bullfighting was prohibited. Bullfighting is normally fatal for the bull, and it is dangerous for the matador. Activism against bullfighting has existed in Spain since the beginning of the early nineteenth century, when a group of intellectuals, pertaining to the Generation of 98, embarked on a dual crusade against the popularity of bullfighting and Flamenco music, dismissing them as "non-European" elements of Spanish culture which were to blame for the country's social and economic backwardness. More recently, bullfighting has come under increasing attack over concern for animal welfare. Separatist and nationalist sentiment in Catalonia has played a key role in the region-wide ban ofthe practice, which is strongly associated to Spanish national identity. Galician and Basque nationalism have also expressed abolitionist stances on the basis of identity politics, although in the case of the latter this has been somewhat mooted by the fact that bullfighting is at the heart of the San Fermin festival in Pamplona. Animal welfare concerns are perhaps the prime driver of anti-bullfighting outside of Spain, although rejection of traditionalism and criollo elitism may also play a role in Latin America, explaining why such activism is so closely associated to leftist or far-leftist positions in Mexico, Ecuador and Colombia.
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HUTCHISON, Isobel W.
The Discovery of a New Reef Near Attu Island - 12
Title:The Discovery of a New Reef Near Attu Island. Author: Isobel W. Hutchison. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1937. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is a succinct, yet a fascinating account, based on the journal of Lieutenant Alexei chirikov. It narrates the first record of the Aleutian Islands discovery by white men. The author provided a full-page sketch map, showing the position of the new reef west of Attu Island, and several photographic plates, showing a Russian church in Unalaska, false Pass and salmon cannery in Aleutian Islands, site of mortuary cave discovered by Dr. Hrdlicka in Kagamilan Island in 1936, as well as some of the plants found on the volcanic Aleutian Islands including Bog cotton on Kodiak Island, Elymus arenarius used in Dutch harbour and Epilobium angustifolium in Unalaska. Excerpt from the text: "The new reef defined by the Chelan's navigators in 1936 is in places not more than 200 fathoms in depth. It apparently extends across the international boundary towards the komandorski Islands, and is in shape not unlike a mailed fist which is met by the nose of another reef extending to meet it from the Medni (Copper) Island in Russian waters." End Excerpt 5 pages, including a full-page sketch map. Plus 2 pages of balck and white photographic plates. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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WATKINS, Henry George
Obituary - Henry George Watkins - 10
Title: OBITUARY: Henry George Watkins. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1932. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is the obituary for the Henry George Watkins (Jan 29, 1907 - Aug 20, 1932), arctic explorer, who was only 25 years of age when he died, drowning in an unfortunate kayaking accident in lake Fjord in 1932, while leading his fourth Northern Expedition. His arctic mission was to discover a northern air-route between North America and Europe. He traveled both in Labrador and in Greenland and climbed the highest mountain in Greenland. Henry George Watkins wrote a book on the British Arctic Air Route Expedition which contained a detailed account of the expedition, based near Angmagssalik on the east coast of Greenland, its sledge and boat trips, two across the icecap, three northward, studies of climate, geology, ornithology, mapping with the aid of airplane, the attempt to climb Mt. Forel, notes on the art of kayaking. The appendices including report on flying work, list of plants collected, field notes on birds, sledging rations, geology, climate studies, etc. He would perish in Greenland before the book could be published, but it was indeed published later that same year. 8 pages. Plus a full-page photographic plate of Watkins, leaving for Angmagssalik on the Gertrud Rask on July 14th, 1932. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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MANNING, T. H.
The Foxe Basin Coasts of Baffin Island - 05/06
Title: The Foxe Basin Coasts of Baffin Island. Author: MANNING, T. H. Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1943. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: A historical summary of the area's exploration precedes Manning's own expedition narrative and includes the achievements of Bernhard Hantzsch, Soper and Tredgold of the RCMP, Christy, William Baffin and Thomas Bylot (1615), Hawkridge, Foxe, Parry, Captain Spicer, Donald B MacMillan, Howell and more. Manning's descriptions take the reader from Cape Dorset, via Nutwata, round Cape Dorchester, Cape Alberta, and the Hantzsch river and include fishing, camping and seal hunting details. Features the mapping of the Hantzsch river (to Piling); the journey from Taverner Bay to Cape Dorset and to Pangnirtung as well as excursions to Iglooik and Churchill;physiographical details of the Foxe Peninsula, the Putnam Highland, Great Plain of the Koukdjuak, Soper Highland, Nettiling Lake to Pangnirtung; an analysis of the area's various rivers and fascinating impressions of the Inuit themselves. Appendices include notes on tides along the north and east shore of the basin, a summary of ice conditions, new place names submitted to the geographic board of Canada and notes on the construction of the map. Excerpt from the text: "On 22 August 1937 I was able to continue with the Polecat along the coast to Mathiassen brook and Caribou Island, at both of which astronomical positions were obtained. With a north east wind on September 6, very heavy ice began to come into East bay and around Caribou Island. I left the latter place on the afternoon of that day, hoping that once beyond Terror Point conditions would be better; but when I was just off that point, the ice closed rather suddenly, and the rudder was immediately smashed. During the night the wind dropped, but I was unable to extricate the boat until the next day. By that time a considerable amount of gasoline had been used, I was short of dog food, and steering amongst ice with only an oar presented such difficulties that I decided to winter at East bay.... In the hope of making an early start toward Baffin island I obtained the assistance of John Ell and another Eskimo, and hauled the Polecat overland to Native point in the spring of 1938..." End excerpt. A captivating Arctic expedition narrative with stunning plates and a descriptive colour map! 27 pages. Plus black and white plates and a large color fold-out map, measuring 17.5 inches x 12.5 inches. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition.
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FIRTH, Raymond
The Coastal People of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaysia - 05/06
Title: The Coastal People of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaya. Author: FIRTH, Raymond Publisher: London: Royal Geographical Society, 1943. Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads!!! Notes & Condition: This is an exceptional report on the coastal people of Kelantan and Trengganu, Malaya, accompanied by spectacular plates for illustration. It also outlines aspects of the Fishing Industry concerning economics of the industry in Two Malay States (Kelantan and Trengganu); the structure and set-up of a Sample Fishing Community; the planning and communal organization of fishing Activities, methods of fishing, types of fish, level of skill and resources used, as well as the high role of women as middle men in the community amongst other aspects. This pre-dates Firth's all-important book - Malay Fisherman. Their Peasant Economy, first published in 1946. A very detailed study of all aspects of the peasant fishing economy in Malaya, including an exceptional analysis of a variety of aspects in the community of the coast of Kelantan, Malaysia. The author was one of the first to primarily study these amazing communities, and provide valuable crucial insight. A fabulous primary resource! 13 pages, including a sketch map. Plus a few black and white photographic plates. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Kelantan is situated in central Malay Peninsula, Malaysia, on the South China Sea. It is bordered on the North by Thailand. The capital is Kota Baru. It is drained by the Kelantan River which flows into the South China Sea. The people are mainly Malay, but there is a small Chinese minority. Kelantan became a protectorate of Great Britain in 1909. Terengganu or Trengganu is also situated in Malaysia, central Malay Peninsula, on the South China Sea. The capital is Kuala Terengganu. he population is mainly Malay. According to the terms of the Anglo-Siamese treaty of 1909, Terengganu became a British protectorate.
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DESIO, Prof. Ardito
The Ascent of K2 - 09
Title: The Ascent of K2. Author: Professor Ardito Desio Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1955. Item is in Original Condition, with Blue Wrappers - As Issued, Complete with All the Ads! Notes & Condition: The idea was conceived by inveterate mountain climber Ardito Desio in 1929 to organize an Italian expedition to summit K2. A vision still resonating with him in 1936, if not taunting his mountaineering passion, he began to formulate a plan. Finally, in 1952 the opportunity to make a reconnaissance expedition was realized, followed by a a preparatory journey in 1953, and the subsequent Italian Expedition led by him in 1954, which indeed was victorious, making the First Ascent of K2. Desio's expedition was one of the best organized and executed assaults on a Himalayan peak. After studying the factors of the five previous failed attempts of other expeditions, he prepared his team and equipment quite differently, with meticulously care. With the help of some 500 local porters who hauled 13 tons of gear and food up the upper Baltoro glacier, he installed seven sturdy and well-stocked camps to let climbers rest at higher altitudes. That alone was a feat undertaken by none before him. The inception of a record-breaking mountaineering expedition, the critical undertaking of a reconnaissance, economic and political considerations, the well planned and impeccably carried out preparations, the momentous climb to reach the summit of K2 for the first time - all are recounted in this, the expedition leader's firsthand and foremost report. 8vo. 13 pages, plus 1 full page sketch map and a photographic plate for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Count Ardito Desio (1897-2001) was an Italian explorer, an exceptional mountain climber, a geologist, and cartographer. Most famous for having led the first climbing expedition to summit K2, he made numerous other explorations, to the Middle East, North Africa, the Philippines, Burma, and Antarctica, in 1962 becoming the first Italian to reach the South Pole. Professor Desio led scientific expeditions well into his 90's, and died at age 104. K2, also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori, is the second highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest, at 8,611 metres (28,251 ft) above sea level. It is located on the China-Pakistan border between Baltistan, in the Gilgit-Baltistan region of northern Pakistan, and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. K2 is the highest point of the Karakoram range and the highest point in both Pakistan and Xinjiang. K2 is nicknamed "Savage Mountain" due to the extreme difficulty of ascent. It has the second-highest fatality rate among all the peaks which reach more than 8,000 metres, collectively known as the eight thousanders, and all situated in the Himalayan and Karakoram ranges. Led by Italian climber Ardito Desio, the expedition to make the first successful ascent to the summit of K2, did so via the Abruzzi Spur on 31 July 1954. The two climbers who reached the summit were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah, who had been a part of the 1953 American expedition. Also on the expedition were Walter Bonatti and Pakistani Hunza porter Amir Mehdi, who both proved vital to the expedition's success in that they carried oxygen tanks to 8,100 metres (26,600 ft) for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. The ascent is controversial because Lacedelli and Compagnoni established their camp at a higher elevation than originally agreed with Medhi and Bonatti. It being too dark to ascend or descend, Medhi and Bonatti were forced to overnight without shelter above 8,000 meters leaving the oxygen tanks behind as requested when they descended. Bonatti and Mehdi survived, but Mehdi was hospitalized for months and had to have his toes amputated because of frostbite. Efforts in the 1950s to suppress these facts to protect Lacedelli and Compagnoni's reputations as Italian national heroes were later brought to light. It was also revealed that the moving of the camp was deliberate, a move apparently made because Compagnoni feared being outshone by the younger Bonatti. Bonatti was given the blame for Medhi's hospitalization.
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Anonymous
Prospectus - First General List of African Names
Title: First General List of African Names. Publisher: London: Edward Stanford, Royal Geographical Society, 1921. Notes & Condition: Issued Society's Permanent Committee on Geographical Names, this is the first glossary of its kind, a foremost register of placenames in Africa as spelled and pronounced in English, also providing alternatively applied names, former names, and corrections to popular but erroneous names often used and even printed on maps of the day. In several instances, the traditional names are printed in the region's language - Arabic, Egyptian or Amharic script, for example. Also including French, Italian, German, Greek, Hebrew, Spanish, and other variations, this remains an excellent primary reference work for today's geographers, historians, and collectors alike. 8vo. 8 pages, string-tied. Complete and in very good condition.
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MULLEN, Leonard & Mary
Document Archive - Abyssinia Law Reform and Modernization - High Court Judge and Femaile Founder of First Law School
Addis Ababa, Abyssinia [Ethiopia], 1948. Archive of papers pertaining to the loss of two individuals of influence in Abyssinia's then recently restructured legal system, including the resignation of a British judge serving in Ethiopia's High Court, and the death of the female solicitor who founded the first law school for indigenous attorneys to receive proper legal qualifications, the latter two being Mr. and Mrs. Mullen, a husband and wife from Liverpool, each engaged by the Ethiopian Ministry of Justice. Includes the judge's travel passport with photograph, his Allied Force permit, an Ethiopian form of photographic identification, letters from the British Foreign Office and the Ethiopian Minister of Justice and others, an official stamped Ethiopian manuscript letter, together with a newspaper announcement and other other papers addressing the solicitor's death, and the couple's original marriage certificate. Documents and letters range in size. Some are in manuscript, some typed, some printed. Several are signed in the original. Slight loss to the Ethiopian documents, some creasing, otherwise the lot in very good condition. Providing a glimpse into the judicial system of Ethiopia during the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I as he endeavored to modernize Ethiopia, and also of the influence of English Law, these papers are from the personal archives of Ethiopia's High Court Judge, the Right Honorable Leonard Mullen, and his wife Agnes whom in her own right made a positive impact to the community by founding the very first law school in the country. Leonard Robert Mullen (born in Liverpool, 1908) [sometimes seen as Mullin], was appointed solicitor and judge of the High Court of Ethiopia in October 1947. Together with his wife Agnes, he became a notable resident of Addis Ababa. Leonard served as a judicial leader in the newly modernized court of law, while Agnes established the first law school in Ethiopia and was an instructor there. In very short order, however, in January 1948, Agnes fell ill and passed away. In August, Leonard subsequently returned to England, settling in Chislehurst, Kent. A time of tremendous loss for the judge, on 3 February 1947 his father had also died. The archive's letters acknowledge Leonard's resignation from service, and further reveal the ongoing ineffectiveness of Ethiopian administration, as well as the cultural differences surrounding death. After the termination of his contract, without empathy or understanding of bereavement, the Director-General of Ethiopian Ministry of Justice, Tamirat Yigazu, further demanded Leonard's departure from the country. Yigazu also claimed that the judge was over-payed for the last period of his services, and funds are due to be returned. Leonard's passport reveals that he travelled extensively throughout Africa between 1947 and 1956, possibly in part to deal with the affairs of his wife and/or his own financial matters with the Ministry. With some stamps made in Ethiopian and Arabic script, others in English or French, during the nine-year period he was in Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Suez, and Aden. Agnes Carus Mullen (1907-1947, née Neville) was the eldest daughter of Liverpool solicitor John Herbert Neville and Jane Helen Carus. Agnes was a practicing junior solicitor working for her father's firm when she married Leonard Mullen in 1931. When Leonard accepted a post as judge for the High Court of Ethiopia, naturally, she travelled with him, the couple making a home in Addis Ababa. The newspaper obituary notice present in this archive, describes her individual accomplishments in Ethiopia, her legacy being the founding of Ethiopia's first school of law. Almost immediately upon her arrival, the Ethiopian Imperial Government learned of her accreditation as a solicitor, and invited her to form the law school, and to educate indigenous lawyers on proper legal practices, thus Ethiopian advocates would finally be appointed according to qualifications as opposed to personal referral. [After the Ethiopian Liberation War, a 1941 campaign, efforts were made to follow the legal procedures and apply the rules of evidence employed by the British courts. Directly a result of Mrs. Mullen's initiaive, by 1948 there were a number of qualified Ethiopian lawyers practicing in the various courts, and a great demand existed for their services, owing to the highly litigious character of the community. However, there remained a lack of trained and experienced lawyers for the High Court, where proceedings were conducted in both Amharic and English. Interestingly, at this time, the Ethiopian criminal law codified in 1930 (a revision of the Fitha Negast) was enforced for Ethiopian citizens, whereas Italian law was enforced for all foreigners, until a then very recent ruling granted a foreigner with the right to choose either the Ethiopian or the Italian penal code for his/her trial and sentencing. ] Born in in a mud hut in Ejersa Gora, Ethiopia in 1892, Emperor Haile Selassie I worked to modernize Ethiopia for several decades. For a country eager to curry favor with the West and gain its foothold at the turn of the century, the progressive Haile Selassie, then still known by his birth name Lij Tafari Makonnen, was the symbol of hope for the young population. In 1923 he led Ethiopia into the League of Nations. The following year, he traveled to Europe, becoming the first Ethiopian ruler to go abroad. In 1928 he appointed himself king, and, after the death of Zauditu, Haile Selassie was crowned emperor in 1930, assuming the name Haile Selassie ("Might of the Trinity"). The emperor was exiled during World War II after leading the resistance to the Italian invasion, but was reinstated in 1941. He sought to modernize the country over the next few decades, implementing social, economic and educational reforms. His efforts greatly strengthened schools, law, and the police force. In the face of a wave of anti-colonialism sweeping across Africa, in 1955 he granted a new constitution which outlined equal rights for his citizens, while maintaining his own authoritative power. He ruled until 1974, when famine, unemployment and political opposition forced him from office, purportedly having been killed by the government officials who replaced him. Leonard's father was Dennis Joseph Mullen (1864-1947), who served 42 years as foreign staff in China, acquiring two properties in Nanking which he bequeathed to his son. Born in Manchester, he was first employed in Customs Office in China at age 24, holding this post from January 1888 to December 1898, then being assigned to various cities as a postal officer, deputy postmaster, inspector, commander in charge, and Deputy Postal Commissioner, finally retiring in 1929. As well as speaking English and French, he was fluent in Chinese at a young age. In 1892 he received a gold medal by the British Government for "gallantry and humanity" in rendering assistance to the barque Stanfield which was in distress. For "outstanding military and civil achievement", four times during the First World War he was granted the decoration of the Chia ho, also known as the Order of Excellent Crop of the Classes, or Order of the Golden Grain. Photo
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Anonymous
Rare Victorian Vellum Manuscript - Firearms Patent with Large Wax Seal Issued to American Inventor
"For Improvements in Fire-Arms" [England], 25 July 1872. Manuscript Victorian patent document on vellum, folded and docketed, a rare and excellent example of a patent of invention for a guns, granted to William Edward Blake of New York City. Large printed document completed in manuscript and measuring approximately 76 x 51 cm, with original blue paper revenue stamp for five pounds, and a double-sided yellow wax seal measuring 16 cm in diameter. Small perforation at fold, age-toning to verso, otherwise in very good and original condition, a lovely and bright document, as issued, with a scarce large Victorian wax seal in its original round tin case. A round black tin container houses the massive double-sided yellow wax seal, diameter 16 cm (6.25 inches), attached to the document by original red plaited cords, one side being the Great Seal of the Realm, the other being Queen Victoria seated on a fully caparisoned royal horse. Diminutive fissures to sides of seal, otherwise in very good original condition, with vivid and crisp wax impression. The Commissioners of Patents' Journal, September 1872 issue, records this patent, no. 2224, being granted provisional protection for six months, as also stated in the document itself. Rare official patent document for an invention for "improvements in fire-arms" valid for fourteen years and issued to William Edward Blake, an inventor from New York City. Patent number 2224 was valid in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Wight, with the condition that the specified stamp duty payments were remitted at the times specified, one hundred pounds being payable in the seventh year after the initial patent issue date, for example. Excerpt from the patent: "... Whereas William Edward Blake of the City of New York, United States of America, hath by his petition humbly represented to Us that he is in possession of an Invention for Improvements in Firearms, which the inventor believes will be of great public utility, that he is the first and true inventor thereof... that the same is not in use by any other..." End Excerpt In the following year, 1873 William Edward Blake would receive at least one patent from the United States Patent Office, "for improvements to gun-stocks and spades, patent number 135,624." Blake described this dual-purposed instrument to be especially useful to American soldiers, in particular the Corps of Royal Sappers, Miners, and Engineers, by reducing the weight and number of tools carried over long distances. In essence he devised a two-in-one gun and spade by affixing a small shovel to the gun-stock which served dually as the shoulder rest when firing. It is conceivable that the present patent, valid in the United Kingdom, was for the same apparatus. Little is revealed about Mr. Blake in the present document, apart from his American citizenship and skill in manufacturing firearms for improved efficiency. Further research, however, may find the inventor to be a relation or even a partner of other Blake family gun makers. For example, John Henry Blake, was the manufacturer of a bolt action 7-shot revolving magazine sporting rifle, which was similar to a military type tested by an Ordnance Board of Governor's Island, New York, in July 1891. Blake, P. & E. W. of New Haven, Connecticut, manufactured Model 1821 muskets; the two partners are believed to have been the nephews of Eli Whitney Sr., and also to have been the trustees of the Whitney Armory from 1823 until Eli Whitney Jr. came of age in 1842. And earlier, the firm French, Blake and Kinsley, musket makers, secured a contract for 4,000 stand of arms on 20 October 1808, having delivered at least 2,175 units by 7 October 1812. The Great Seal of the Realm or Great Seal of the United Kingdom (prior to the Treaty of Union the Great Seal of England, then until the Union of 1801 the Great Seal of Great Britain) is a seal that is used to symbolize the Sovereign's approval of important state documents. Sealing wax is melted in a metal mould or matrix and impressed into a wax figure that is attached by cord or ribbon to documents that the monarch wishes to make official. Queen Victoria had to select four different Great Seal designs during the sixty-three years of her reign. England's patent law began to be criticized in the 1850s, for obstructing research and benefiting the few at the expense of public good. According to historian Adrian Johns, the campaign "remains to this day the strongest ever undertaken against intellectual property", coming close to abolishing patents altogether. Despite much public debate, the system wasn't abolished, though it was reformed with the Patent Law Amendment Act of 1852. This simplified the procedure for obtaining patents, reduced fees and created one office for the entire United Kingdom, instead of different systems for England and Wales and Scotland. Around the same time, however, an anti-patent movement began to take shape, and would continue until the early 1870s, spirred by inventors, entrepreneurs, and radical laissez-faire economists. Prominent activists included Isambard Kingdom Brunel, William Robert Grove, William Armstrong and Robert A. MacFie. A new sequence for numbering patents also began in October 1852. Patents applied for between October and December 1852 were numbered from 1-1211. For each subsequent year patents were numbered in annual sequences beginning with the number 1. This system was in place until 1915. Manuscript
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PARSON, Barclay
From the Yang-tse Kiang to the China Sea - 06
8vo. 25 pages, including in-text sketch illustrations, plus a fold-out map. Missing the original spine. Bound with new black spine, otherwise in original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. This is a fascinating expedition report which, with its accompanying map, gives a detailed description of two important China waterways that had not previously been accurately surveyed. Excerpt from the introduction: "The Chinese empire that has never been completely and accurately surveyed, although native maps exist purporting to give a delineating of the whole country. While such sources of information are sufficiently approximately correct to show the geography and topography for ordinary purposes, it is only assurveys are made under foreign auspices that we are enabled to get the true location anddescription of details. Such foreign surveys naturally follow the trade routes - that is, the coast-line and inland waters. When the latter have all been correctly plotted we shall have secured the topographical skeleton, to which the less important details can be readily connected..."
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AUSTIN, Major H. H.
A Journey from Omdurman to Mombasa viâ Lake Rudolf - 06
8vo. 22 pages, plus a large folding colour map for illustration. Missing the original spine. Bound with new black spine, otherwise in original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Not to be deceived by such a modest title, Austin's is a most vivid description of a deadly 2,400 mile journey through British Sudan to Kenya, encountering numerous hostile tribes. He recounts repeated instances, in the environs of Lake Rudolf, of expedition members being hunted and speared to death by indigenous tribesmen, of bold night attacks by warriors, and brutal devious killings of travelers wandering from camp. His expedition journal begins to resemble a diary of deaths. The survey party traversed swampy regions of the Nile through Sudan, to reach the magnificent highlands of British East Africa. The perilous overland journey endured not only shortage of food, illness, and dangerous encounters, but a most dramatic loss of 75 per cent of the party of sixty-two, at the hands of previously friendly tribes!
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Frederick Greenwood
Manuscript Papers and Letters of of Frederick Greenwood, a Distinguished Royal Army Officer from Woolwich in the County of Kent.
Original documents and manuscript letters of Frederick Greenwood (1789-1841), a distinguished Royal Army officer from Woolwich in the County of Kent, with the unique rank of Royal Artillery Company-Sergeant [Colour Sergeant], and portrait sitter for Drahonet's collection of paintings commissioned by William IV. Seven documents ranging in size, the smallest measuring approximately 11 x 17 cm, the largest measuring approximately 20 x 32 cm. Two are made on parchment. Age-toning, some split at folds, otherwise in very good condition. Frederick Greenwood (1789-1841) was a notable and respected military leader in his day, as is evident by his distinguished rank of Company-Sergeant [Colour Sergeant], and the glowing commentaries penned by his superiors who describe him as "exemplary, respectable, active, intelligent." He is best remembered by his portrait painting which is part of the British Royal Family's exclusive "Royal Collection" of art, having been commissioned in 1832 by William IV in a series of works to illustrate leading roles of the Army and the Navy. The artist was French artist Alexandre-Jean Dubois-Drahonet (1791-1834) who executed a great number of sketches of various national and military costumes, some of which are at Windsor. Little is known of Greenwood, however, apart from what is revealed in the present documents. A carpenter and cabinet maker by trade, at the age of twenty, he enlisted at Bradford, in the County of York (now Yorkshire) on 11 July 1809. As a sergeant, then a bombardier and corporal, he served during the Napoleonic Wars. From the early 1820s served 3 years 10 months in the Peninsula. He spent 8 years and 7 months at the Cape of Good Hope, from September 1824 until his retirement in 1833, placing him there between the fifth and sixth Xhosa Wars (Cape Frontier Wars, Kaffir Wars). Shortly after retiring from the Army he took to the seas, obtaining a position on HMS Lightning in 1838, and working in the West Indies onboard the HMS Megaera from 9 December 1838 until his death 20 October 1841. The lot includes: Official documents made in 1833 pertaining to Greenwood's Retirement and Pension from the Royal Army; Manuscript signed letters of recommendation presenting Greenwood in high esteem; Inspector's Check: an official Admiralty document made 28 April 1842 after Greenwood's death; A manuscript list headed "House of Fred'ck Cpy. Sergeant Greenwood", names his six children, born between 1817 and 1825, surely being his heirs. Manuscript
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Manuscript Ledger, Merchant Ship
Manuscript Ledger from an Eighteent Century Merchant Ship Called 'Dublin', Dated 1-29 January 1755, Naming British Firms Dealing in Fine French Linens and Wine.
8vo. 2 pages of text written recto and verso on a single leaf watermarked with a fleur-de-lis, measuring approximately 22 x 23 cm. Age-toned, small chips to extremities, otherwise in very good condition for its age and origin. Trading merchandise such as fine Bordeaux wine known as claret, and French linen cloth, to affluent British clients and brokers, the merchant and his vessel have yet to be identified, although this simple document attests to the interests of both middle and upper classes of Great Britain in the eighteenth century. In this period, fine claret was a symbol of wealth and power in England, both in political and religious sectors, subsequently creating a significant revenue source for the Crown. The Bordeaux wine was prominent in both court and church, consumed heavily by high society aristocrats, while playing a central role in the Eucharist. During the 1750s, the French were favouring cotton, calico, and some silk over the traditional wool and linen textiles. French style was defined by elaborate court dress, colourful and rich in decoration, worn by such iconic fashion figures as Marie Antoinette. Britain, however was characterized by a propensity for practicality. Simple and modest, durable and inexpensive fabrics were best suited for the popular outdoor lifestyle and portraiture. The shift in styles in France provided an excellent purchasing opportunity for the English to purchase linen at a desirable cost. The merchant/captain's document begins on January 1st 1755, presumably at the onset of a world voyage, with "Cash to Stock £2000 Received from my Father to Begin the World... [Trade/Voyage?]" Ports of call include Roan [Roan, County Tyrone, Ulster, Northern Ireland], and Nanz [Nantes, France]. Claret and linen are purchased from France, and pure Irish butter brought for trade on consignment. Barrels of beef are also sold on consignment. Sundries and repairs to the ship are further noted. Transactions are dated at the center top of each entry, and tallied in Pounds Sterling to the right. This early document appears to have an interesting American connection as well, as two of the transactions involve Swift & Company, one of these being a purchase of beef. The captain first takes a deposit of £1000 on January 2nd, then charges the company on the 29th for 125 barrels of beef consigned by a Charles Curry. Manuscript
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Wenzel Heger [Hegher]; Austrian Architect
Manuscript Travellogue Accompanied by Ephemera and Botanical Specimens Collected by Austrian Architect Wenzel Heger [Hegher] During His Travels, the Work Titled "Reise nach Italien im Jahre 1856" [Travels in Italy in the year 1856].
8vo. Fair copy account, 223 pages in manuscript including title page, with 20 ephemeral papers and documents tipped-in at rear of volume, and 11 plant specimens mounted to separate cardstock leafs, captioned, and preserved in two folding envelopes also tipped-in (five were harvested in 1869 in Germany). Journal is written in German. Documents are in Italian or German, depending on place of origin. Burgundy cloth boards representative of the period, with four raised bands, marbled endpapers. Some wear to boards, fading at spine, otherwise in very good condition, a pleasing work in a fine hand. Wenzel Heger (1806-1895) was an architect residing in Josefstadt, a district within Vienna, active in his trade in the 1840s, and employed by the Austrian Department of Architecture by the 1860s. As one might expect from an esteemed architect, this manuscript is penned in a meticulous hand, a pleasing format with wide margins, the account unfolding chronologically and replete with detail. Heger and his wife indulge in an autumn sojourn, departing from their home in Vienna in August 1856 for Trieste, and from there to visit Venice, Padua, Verona, the Lago Di Garda, Peschiera, Brescia, Bergamo, Milan, Lago Maggiore, Como, Mals, and returning via the connecting alpine pass in Nauders, which lead to Austria, passing through the ancient fortress at Finstermünz (Altfinstermünz) which operated as a customs office until 1854. As well as describing nineteenth century Italian custom and the numerous sites visited, as he travels, Heger notes significant historical events, beginning with his first stay, in Venice, noting circumstances of the city having been plundered in 1797 by retreating Austrian and then French forces, and the Republic of Venice subsequently becoming a part of a unified Italy. He goes further back historically to discuss the visit of Tycho Brahe in 1575 who was soliciting Venetian artisans to work on the Danish king's palace. Early on in their travels, the couple crossed the border by rail into Croatia, then Slovenia to witness the natural and historic beauty of that South Slavic country. We find mention of Krapina and Warasdin (Varazdin), the iconic and majestic Terglau (Triglav) Mountain, Laibach and the ancient Roman castrum known as Colonie Aemona (Emona), Loitsch, Idra (Idrija), one of the many settlements called Paka, and Ogulin. The Baltic tour is described over 14 pages. The tour of mid-nineteenth century Austrian-ruled Italy is further memorialized with ephemeral and manuscript documents such as restaurant menus, hotel receipts including two illustrated billheads for the Grand Albergo alla Luna in Venice and the Gerardo Berina hotel's Trattoria restaurant which no longer stands, ferryboat, omnibus and gondola tickets, theater tickets and three theatre broadsides (one in Italian and one in German). Donizetti's "Elixir d'Amore" and Giacomo Meyerbeer's "Les Huguenots" at the Teatro la Fenice in Venice are featured. Finally, some botanical samples were collected by Heger and/or his wife at Lake Garda, Verona, Tirano, Padua, Monza, and much to the Austrian's delight, an edelweiss flower was harvested at an elevation of 7068 feet on Monte Pasubio (captioned Gnaphalium Leontopodium). Manuscript
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James, Norman Walker
Archive of London Artist, Norman Walker James, Featuring a Notable Project Undertaken for Belgian Royalty, a Historic Emblem of the Kingsbury Parade of Shops in London.
Archive of London Artist, featuring a tribute to king of Belgium; comprises 5 published book dustjackets for notable authors, 2 bookplate designs, 11 heraldic arms of the British monarchy and the Royal Armed Forces, 30 hand-drawn and coloured Oxford coat of arms, 21 unique greeting cards, 7 photographs, and a few other items pertaining to publications and to colleges. Artworks and photographs range in size, the smallest measuring approximately 8 x 11 cm and the largest measuring 20 x 25 cm. With the exception of the greeting cards and bookplates, all other works are mounted to large cardstock leafs measuring approximately 29 x 35 cm. Two series of works are accompanied by typescript descriptions; one is accompanied by a facsimile letter from the College of Arms in London. The lot in very good condition, providing insight into the works of an all but forgotten London-based commercial artist who was active before and during the Second World War. Norman Walker James (1886-1963) was a commercial artist and designer established in London from about 1910-1911. He is listed as a Decorative Designer residing at a boarding house in Kensington, in the 1911 census. Although little-known today, he evidently rose to some acclaim in his trade, as he was selected to design a memorial tablet for Belgian King Albert I. Born in Leicester, he was the son of a congregational minister. The present archive consists of an artist's own retained copies of his work, which form a fascinating portfolio of a man who was notable and active, not long ago from the 1920s into at least the 1940s, and yet seems to be vanished into obscurity. His undertakings and contracts connected him to Belgian royalty, notable publishers, and administrators of renowned college institutions. Especially interesting are the items pertaining to his contribution to a memorial located in the Sint-Maartenskathedraal in Ypres [St Martin's Cathedral re-built in 1930] , including a photograph of the tablet designed by James and accompanied by his design description, two coats of arms printed true-to-size as they would be on the tablet, as well as two rare large press photographs of its unveiling on 21 May 1938. The tablet served to honour Albert I King of Belgium together with the British Armed Forces for the gift of the exquisite rose stained glass window mounted above the south transept door. James designed the nine-foot tall tablet, on which he hand painted the inscription, and which was unveiled by King Leopold III. It featured the coat of arms of Albert I, as well as the Arms of the British Army, the RAF and the Dragoon Guards. Some of James' dustjacket designs retained here include: Commodore Anson's Voyage Into the South Seas and Around the World, by Boyle T. Somerville, published in 1934; The Recollections of Sir Henry Dickens, published in 1934; The Daughters of George III, by Dorothy Margaret Stuart, published in 1939; War & Peace, by Leo Tolstoy, published in 1942 (Also with original book boards); The Heart of Jade, by Salvador de Madariaga, published in 1944. Other book and publishing related designs include: Four photographs showing the dedication leafs and front boards of a book issued by Great Britain's Postal Administration to commemorate the tricentennial anniversary of Norway's postal service and to celebrate the two nations' collaboration in a Universal Postal Union; A front wrapper for a 1934 issue of "Paris Salon Illustrated" magazine for artists. On two leafs are mounted 30 hand coloured drawings of heraldic shields, being the Arms of the University of Oxford, and twenty-nine of its colleges or halls, some examples of which include Pembroke College, St. John's College, Jesus College, Queens College, Magdalen College, and Campion Hall. A ticket of R. P. Gossop Limited stamped "Norman James" reveals a connection to the agency. [Reginald Percy Gossop (1876-1951) was a commercial artist specializing in graphic and landscape art, and is best remembered for designing posters for the Underground Group from 1925 to 1932. He started an agency for artists circa 1920. He studied at Birkbeck College in London, then at the Hammersmith School of Art.] Manuscript
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Fratelli Alinari
Set of 7 Glass Lantern Slides Featuring Black and White Images of Acropolis of Athens, by the Renowned Italian Firm Fratelli Alinari
Set of 7 rare glass lantern slides from the 'Serie Artistic' by the renowned Italian firm Fratelli Alinari, all original black and white photographic images taken at the Acropolis of Athens. Each glass slide measures approximately 8 x 8 cm, each labeled with the photographer's name and address in typescript and numbered in manuscript. Contained together in the photographer's original brown cardboard box numbered to bottom. The lot in very good condition, beautifully preserved. Original Alinari lantern slide photographs are exceedingly scarce today, this lovely set comprising quality views of the ancient ruins of the Acropolis of Athens. Photographs include the Parthenon which was dedicated to the goddess Athena - protector of the Ancient city of Athens, the Temple of Zeus, the Temple of Athena Nike, the Propylaea, and the Theatre of Dionysus Eleuthereus theatre built at the foot of the Acropolis and dedicated to Dionysus - the god of fertility and wine, ritual madness, theatre and religious ecstasy, in ancient Greek religion and myth. A less common view illustrates the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (circa 1900 or later). Photo
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WYSS-DUNANT, Ed.
The First Swiss Expedition to Mount Everest, 1952.
8vo. 14 pages, plus photographic plates for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, containing other accounts as well, seldom found in such good and original condition. Team leader Dr. Edouard Wyss-Dunant shares his most gripping firsthand account of Switzerland's first Everest expedition, an adventure of remarkable success and perilous crevasse crossings, exceeding even the most optimistic of expectations. Dramatic photographs taken on the mountain make this account especially memorable. A reconnaissance mission, its objectives included exploration to ascertain access to the South Col, finding a possible advance to the South Col, and the conquest of the labyrinthine Khumbu ice fall. The men indeed succeeded in climbing the Khumbu icefall which still today is considered one of the most dangerous stages of the South Col route, and subsequently made the ascent of the South Col (7986 m). As well, Lambert and Sherpa Tenzing reached a height of about 8500 metres on the south-west ridge of Everest.
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Scottish Interest
Rare Broadside for the Auction Sale of Glasgow Schooner Called 'London Packet', Stranded at Treacherous Beamer Rock.
Packet ship broadside for the auction sale of Glasgow schooner called 'London Packet' to take place six days after this announcement, on 7 November 1851, in the harbour of the historic seaport village of St. David's situated very near to Inverkeithing, Fife. 8vo. Single leaf printed document, watermarked, measuring approximately 28 x 20 cm. Slight creasing, one unobtrusive small chip to lower margin, otherwise in Very Good condition, presenting an exceptionally rare example of an in-situ auction for a vessel. Lovely and rare broadside from Scotland during the Golden Age of Sail to announce the sale of a Scottish packet ship which had then been recently stranded on the notorious Beamer Rock. The public auction was to begin at noon, 7 November 1851, in the harbour where the vessel sat in situ, in the historic village of St. David's. The vessel was part of the early sailing fleet of William Sloan & Co., a notable Scottish firm established in 1825 and operating the largest fleet in Glasgow by 1848.
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Underwood & Underwood
21 Stereoview Photographs of Switzerland in Original Box, Highlighting Glaciers, Summits, and Alpine Towns.
Beautifully rustic and inviting are the images of Swiss alpine villages, with locals going about their regular mountain-life routine while turn-of-the-century visitors pass through to peer at the immense surrounding peaks. A woman with a cone-shaped back mounted basket and scythe stands in the foreground of a lovely view of Zermatt which is captioned "the Alpine's Sanctuary - the charming Zermatt." From Zermatt a couple follows a path to the Matterhorn. At Stalden an elderly lady carries a basket in which she gathers twigs for fire making. The Kinbrücke (bridge), now a Swiss heritage site of national significance, stands behind her and beyond that extends the Visp Valley. A medieval hilltop castle [Valère basilica] overlooks the homes and churches of Sion. We also find a charming view of Wassen, along the St. Gotthard railway [Gotthardbahn] in the canton of Uri, with its little baroque Catholic church garnering the most attention, and one of Mürren, a traditional Walser mountain village in the Bernese Highlands. The lakes and towns of Sisikon and Lucerne each appear in the set, while charming scenes are captured in Berne, where residents don traditional garments, statues and a clock tower decorate the streets, and a well dressed gentleman offers transportation in a rickshaw. Underwood & Underwood produced one hundred views for the Switzerland Alps series, publishing them in 1901 with an accompanying book by Mabel Sarah Emery titled, "Switzerland Through the Stereoscope. A Journey over and around the Alps." Photo
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KOZLOFF, Captain P. K.
The Russian Tibet Expedition, 1899-1901.
8vo. 22 pages plus 1 full-page sketch map. Photographic plates within the text for illustration. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, containing other accounts as well, seldom found in such good and original condition. Led by Russian explorer Pyotr Kuzmich Kozlov, who had previously accompanied Nikolai Prjevalsky on his final expedition across the Gobi to Alashan and the eastern Tian Shan mountain, and supported by the Russian Geographical Society, the purpose of this expedition was to explore Central Asia and Tibet. Beginning in 1899, for thorough scientific observations, a multitude of surveys were performed which yielded most impressive results, including the mapping of areas in Eastern Tibet. Tremendous success was achieved on this long and difficult exploration of 8000 miles, Kozloff and his colleagues returning with 1200 geological specimens, 1400 plant types, 300 mammal skins, 10 skeletons, 1500 birds, 30,000 insects, and much detail concerning geography, history and ethnography. An in-text sketch map shows routes taken.
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W. V. Lewis.
Miniature Spits and Embankments on a Lake-Shore, Iceland.
7 pages, including 2 in-text sketch map and photographic plates.. In Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. Series of miniature spits and embankments examined during the Cambridge Expedition to East Iceland in 1937. Grants towards the cost of this expedition were received from the Royal Geographical Society; Lieut. J. N. Jennings surveyed the area. Lewis provides a succinct but valuable report with 3 sketch maps and a few photographic plates.
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TROLLOPE, Anthony.
Framley Parsonage.
8vo. "Framley Parsonage" comprises 373 pages and 6 copper engravings. This is the first 3 volumes of the Cornhill Magazine, complete, and containing the above described novel, and several other accounts. Publisher's original red cloth boards, titled in gilt to front and spine, covered in pictorial blindstamping, tissue guards to protect engravings. Some wear and age-toning to boards, delicate hinge in the second volume, otherwise in very good, original condition. The First Appearance of Framley Parsonage, a Victorian novel by the esteemed and brilliant nineteenth century story writer Anthony Trollope, this is the complete work, as it first appeared, in serial form with illustrations, published 1860-1861 in the first three volumes of Cornhill Magazine. Framley Parsonage is the fourth novel in Anthony Trollope's series known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire. It was first published in serial form in the Cornhill Magazine, in the opening numbers of the magazine, volume I published January 1860 containing chapters 1 to 18, volume II published in June 1860 contains chapters 19 to 36, and volume III published in January 1861 containing chapters 37 to 48. The novel was subsequently published in book form by Smith, Elder & Co. of London in 1861. The same year, a German edition was published by Bernhard Tauchnitz in Leipzig. The story revolves around a young vicar Mark Robarts, settled in the village of Framley in Barsetshire with his wife and children, and his ambitions to further his career which lead him to a foolhardy financial agreement with a notorious debtor. A secondary plot deals with the romance and marriage of Mark's sister Lucy and Ludovic, also known as Lord Lufton, a friend and benefactor to Mark. In his autobiography, Trollope described Framley Parsonage: "The story was thoroughly English. There was a little fox-hunting and a little tuft-hunting, some Christian virtue and some Christian cant. There was no heroism and no villainy. There was much Church, but more love-making." Also of literary interest, in the volume I is the first appearance of Thackeray's novel "Lovel, the Widower" which evidently, he had written after his first visit to America, late in his career, not long before retiring, and in fact not long before his death. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) was a founding editor of the literary journal The Cornhill Magazine in 1859, but resigned due to ill-health in 1862, though his last works were published in the journal. He died in 1863. The first edition in book form appeared in 1861, published in London, by Smith, Elder and Co.
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Anon.
Breviarium Romanum ex Decrêto Sacrosáncti Concílii Tridentîni Restitûtum, S. Pii v P. M. jussu editum, et Clementis VIII. primùm, nunc denuo Urbani PP. VIII. auctoritate recognitum. [with] Commune Sanctorum [with] Proprium Sanctorum Hispanorum qui General
This handsome eighteenth century Spanish binding features gilt tooled motifs to boards and spine, four raised bands, gilt and gauffered edges, two brass clasps. Text is in Latin, black and red ink. With 7 fine allegorical woodcut engravings, two title pages also illustrated with woodcuts. Contemporary ownership signature to verso of title page. Volume measures approximately 21,5 x 15 x 8 cm. Slight wear to boards with some creasing at spine, fracture to one clasp, otherwise in very good condition, well preserved for its age. The Roman Breviary (Breviarium Romanum) is the liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office. The Breviary rightly so called, only dates from the 11th century; the earliest manuscript containing the whole canonical office is of the year 1099 and is in the Mazarin library. Undergoing several reforms through the centuries, the volume containing the daily hours of Roman Catholic prayer was published as the Breviarium Romanum until the reforms of Paul VI, when it became known as the Liturgy of the Hours.
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LOWNDES, William
A Report Containing an Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins.
8vo. 159 pages, plus 1 page notice by the Treasury at rear, bound in contemporary cottage style panelled calf, five raised bands, gilt tooling and titled to spine. With a nineteenth century armorial bookplate to front pastedown. Some wear to boards with minor loss to foot of spine, otherwise in very good condition, internally bright and crisp, a pleasing early work. [Palgrave]: "With a view to the recoinage of 1696, he was requested to undertake an investigation into the state of the currency, the results of which were published with the title A Report Containing an Essay for the Amendment of the Silver Coins ... In this important work, while he repudiated any measure which would have the character of debasing the currency, he suggested, as a necessary measure for placing it upon a satisfactory basis, that all denominations of the silver coin should be raised 25 per cent. Lowndes had carefully examined the records of the mint and other documents, and he ably defended his position with historical arguments based upon these materials. He also maintained that the price of silver had risen to 6s. 5d. an oz., and that if the measure he proposed were adopted, persons who melted down the coin would have "less profit by fourteen pence half-penny in the crown". Further arguments he used in support of his scheme were that it would encourage the bringing of bullion to the mint to be coined, and would make the coinage "more in tale, more commensurate to the general need thereof". To meet the objection that people would lose 20 per cent on contracts already made, he maintained the scarcity of silver. He computed the amount of "weighty money" hoarded up at £1,600,000. The most famous of the replies to Lowndes' Essay was written by John Locke, and was entitled Further Considerations Concerning the Raising the Value of Money, wherein Mr. Lowndes' arguments for it in his late report concerning "An Essay," etc., are particularly examined. While the opposition accepted the views urged by Lowndes, Montagu and the government adopted those of Locke, and the recoinage on the old standard was carried on Dec. 10, 1698 [sic: actually 1695], in the House of Commons, by 225 to 114."
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DEVIK, Olaf
Ice Formations in Lakes and Rivers.
11 pages, including in-text sketch illustrations. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. In this report the author discusses his studies of ice formations in Sweden and Norway. His formulas and tables illustrate the growth of a sheet of ice, surface temperature of freezing water recorded by thermopile, the growth of an ice-crystal in super cooled water, water main from reservoir choked by anchor ice, and so forth.
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HAY, Thomas.
Mountain Form in Lakeland.
16 pages, including a full-page tinted sketch map. Plus black and white plates. Original condition with blue wrappers, titles to front, and containing all the ads. This is a complete issue, seldom found in such good and original condition. An outstanding geological survey report illuminating the remarkable topography of the Cumbrian Mountains. Hay attempts to discover the cause for the rounded appearance of the Scottish Southern Uplands mountain tops and the similarly rounded summit land in the Cumbrian mountains, a feature then ascribed by some (the Scottish geologists) to be the result of ice action and by others (John Edward Marr et al) to be the remnant of a preglacial surface. Hay examines rock contrasts, the distribution and development of the subdued land and the two integral summit areas: the central area - that block of land between Thirlmere and Derwent Water, its southern end forming the Langdale Pikes; the Glaramara ridge running down to Rosthwaite, Great Gable, the land between Borrowdale and the Buttermere valley; the Skiddaw slate between Hindscarth and Grasmoor, another great triangular wedge with its apex at Great Gable, its southwest margin on Wast Water and its base on the Cumberland plain and the Ullswater Glacier
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Royal Yacht SMS Grille - Prussian Royal Family
Commemorative Morocco Album, Representing an Early Voyage, Quite Possibly the Inaugural Voyage, of Royal Yacht SMS Grille, Containing a Manuscript Dedication to Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia with the Signatures of 6 Notables Who Were Onboard.
Commemorative morocco album purpose-made for what was most likely the inaugural voyage of SMS Grille, an important Prussian sailing vessel, containing a manuscript dedication to Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia (1828-1885) with the original signatures of six notables who were onboard. Folio. Red morocco boards, titled and tooled in gilt to front, exquisite blindstamped detail, white satin endpapers. Volume measures approximately 38 x 28,5 x 2 cm. Accompanied by a manuscript letter written in 1874, Folio. 2 pages double-leaf measuring approximately 35 x 21,5 cm. Mild wear to album boards, mainly to extremities and one chip to rear, otherwise in very good, original condition. Von Stettin nach Ystadt den 11. bis 14 Juli 1859. [From Szczecin to Ystadt 11 to 14 July 1859.]: The sea route is revealed with ports of call printed in gilt to the front boards, beginning at Stettin [Szczecin], proceeding to Swinemünde [Swinoujscie], Stralsund, Rügen Island, Ystadt [Sweden], Heringsdorf, and back to Stettin. A dedication inscription reads, "Seiner Königlichen Hoheit dem Prinzen Friedrich Carl von Preussen zur Erinnerung an den 11,12,13,14, Juli 1859" [His Royal Highness the Prince Friedrich Carl of Prussia, in memory of the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th July 1859]. This is followed by the original signatures of six notable men who accompanied him. The signature "von Blumenthal" may be that of Count Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal (1810-1900) who in the 1859 was appointed personal adjutant to Prince Frederick Charles. Another, "Fierbord von Meyerinck" may be Hofmarschall von Meyerinck who frequently accompanied the Prince on official tours. A separate leaf records the names of another 50 guests onboard, all members of the Imperial Navy, and possibly consisting of the crew ("Namentliches Verzeichniss... Grille"). SMS Grille was a ship of the Prussian Navy built after the revolution of 1848-1849 for the Prussian Prince Adalbert (1811-1873), and later served in the Imperial Navy. She was a Royal Yacht, which was available to the King Frederick William IV and the Crown Prince for private purposes during peacetime. The present album quite likely represents the inaugural voyage of SMS Grille, a four-day tour from 11 to 14 July 1859 with Prussian royalty and navy men onboard. Ten years after the voyage memorialized here, in November 1869, SMS Grille would participate in the opening ceremonies of the Suez Canal, again with a Prussian Royal onboard. SMS Grille, with the Crown Prince / future emperor onboard, was the third ship in the column after a French ship with Empress Eugénie and the Austrian SMS Greif with Emperor Franz Joseph I on board. Manuscript
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19th Century Student of Medicine
Journal of Manuscript Medical Notes in German, titled: "Materia Medica und Formulare nach Dr. Büchner" , [Medical Material and Formulas According to Dr. Büchner].
Manuscript notes made by a nineteenth century student of medicine, possibly intent on becoming an apothecary, who examines and records the earlier works of German physician and professor Andreas Elias Buechner (1701-1769), including numerous medicinal recipes and commentary on physiological effects. 8vo. 56 pages in manuscript. Text is in German. Marbled paper boards with blank label to front. Volume measures approximately 17 x 21 cm. Very slight wear to boards, otherwise in very good condition, internally crisp and bright. The 18th century was the 'Golden Age' of scientific academies and learned societies. This work provides valuable information on the historic application of natural ingredients with medicinal qualities, as well as a somewhat early history of the experimentation and progress in the field of medicine, by drawing from the methodology and recipes of a notable eighteenth century German physician and educator in the field - Andreas Elias Büchner. Following a five-point outline, the writer compiles a lengthy and well organized list of medical ailments or discomforts and the simple remedies for them, over 24 pages, a very small sampling of these being parageusia (a distortion of the sense of taste), digestive issues for which are listed various laxatives, skin sensitivities and emollients, "alterantia" or hormonal alterants, and diaphoretics. A section headed "Special Formulas," comprising 23 pages of more complex medicinal recipes, provides ingredients and measurements for various emulsions, syrups, pills and much more. Andreas Elias Büchner (1701-1769) was a German physician, naturalist, Professor of Medicine at some of Germany's leading institutions, president of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina from 1735 to 1769, and one of Friedrich Hoffmann's most zealous followers. Manuscript
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SMITH, Samuel, M.P.
Bi-Metallic Money.
A Paper Read Before the Society for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, on the 15th of August, 1879. 8vo. Third Edition. 39 pages, plus large diagram measuring approximately 37 x 32 cm, in original titled wrappers. Chart with small splits at folds, otherwise very good and original condition. Smith puts forth a learned and compelling argument for the re-implementation of silver coins as a standard of the monetary system. Having been the leading unit of measure for centuries, it had only recently begun being replaced by the Gold Standard, first in the United Kingdom and Latin America some sixty years earlier in 1821, then in the Province of Canada in 1853, Newfoundland in 1865, and Germany in 1873. He supports this proposal with a historical sketch of both gold and silver as currency, followed by an assessment of the "existing state of monetary law throughout the world," and specific examples of how silver retained its value through the Civil Wars in South America, the Cotton Famine, the Australian and California Gold Rush eras, and so forth. He tackles three principle objections with statistics and historical evidence, then addresses the mindset of the general population in making a monetary conversion to bimetallism. Appendices show the ratio between the two precious metals from 1801 to 1878, discuss the effects of having recently discredited silver in commerce, considerations in production, and finally, "what remedial measures ought now to be adopted so that silver may again perform, internationally, its proper function as money.
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Anon.
Spoof Decree of a Criminal Prosecution for Drunkenness in the Form an Exorbitant Monetary Fine Payable to the Deliverer of the Document - COMPLETED IN MANUSCRIPT.
8vo. 1 page, printed document completed in manuscript including date, name of recipient/delinquent, amount of the fine, name and signature of the messenger/collector of funds. With a partial manuscript message to inner page of leaf. Double leaf measuring approximately 17 x 21 cm in its folded state, watermarked with the year 1822. Signed in ink in an original hand, "Jno. Rd. Carter," as the messenger. Very good and original condition, an amusing document, seldom seen completed in manuscript. Roughly designed after an authentic court document, the heading bears the abbreviations "G.R. IV" signifying the reign of King George IV and features an engraved representation of the Royal Coat of Arms of the British monarch. Dated 31 January 1826 in manuscript, charges are laid upon a Mr. David Crossby of Gosberton [South Holland district, Lincolnshire], who is guilty of the crime of "the wicked and abominable sin of drunkenness, by frequently swallowing large quantities of Beer, Ale, Porter, and all other Malt Liquors, (Small Beer excepted) Brandy, Rum...", his fine being 50 pounds of good and lawful Money of Great Britain, payable within 24 hours to the deliverer of the said notice. Fifty pounds sterling was a very large sum of money at the time, £50 then being equivalent to approximately £4,450 today, although substantially more impactful when we consider that the average income from 1800 to 1825 was less than £20 a year. As such, the fine here would represent approximately 3 years wages to the poor bloke who was "convicted" of simply consuming alcohol.
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Anonymous
Manuscript - Vellum Land Deed - Burnham Market - Text in Latin - Wax Seal
Burnham Market [in the district of King's Lynn, Norfolk], 1589. Manuscript indenture on vellum, outlining a conveyance of land in the environs of Burnham Market, from Edward Clarke of Stanhoe to John Barrett of Barwick, with a monogram magenta red wax seal. Text is in Latin. Document measures approximately 47 x 9 cm, with wax seal affixed to vellum pendant. Some age-toning, otherwise in very good condition. Latin indenture made in the thirty-first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth I [1589] concerning land in the area of Burnham Market, very near to Stanhoe, with which John Barrett of Barwicke acquires land from Edward Clarke of Stanhowe. A William Baxter is also mentioned in this document. The wax seal features imagery of a sword or staff within monogram letters, suggesting a notable status of service to the king. This is an exceptionally scarce and consequently significant concerning property rights in the sixteenth century feudal era of England, dated only thirty years from the earliest parish record held in Norfolk registry archives, and featuring a most interesting wax seal. Stanhoe is a village and civil parish in the district of King's Lynn and West Norfolk, only 19 miles from the seaside village of King's Lynn which would later be the birthplace of Captain George Vancouver the great navigator of Pacific Northwest America fame. Manuscript
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