ANSON, George - SUBSCRIBER OWNED COPYMareMagnum
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.....Compiled from Papers and other Materials of the Right Honourable George Lord Anson, and Published under his Direction, by Richard Walter, M.A. Chaplain of His Majesty's Ship the Centurion. SUBSCRIBERS COPY OWNED BY SUBSCRIBER LISTED IN BOOK AND WITH ADDITIONAL MANUSCRIPT LEAF SIGNED BY ANSON. First Edition. Quarto, measuring approximately 260mm x 210mm. 34, 420 pages, with 42 engraved folding plates and maps. Bound in a contemporary full calf binding. Bound without the directions to binder leaf, otherwise a stunning and very clean copy of this book. WITH THE SIGNATURE OF HENRY PENNYMAN ON THE TOP OF THE TITLE PAGE WHO IS LISTED IN THE LIST OF SUBCRIBERS AND THE BOOKPLATE OF JAMES PENNYMAN. IN ADDITION THERE IS A MANUSCRIPT LEAF - A RECEIPT FOR LOAN IN SALT - SIGNED IN THE ORIGINAL BY ANSON IN MAY 1752. This is the official account of Anson's voyage. England, at war with Spain in 1739, equipped eight ships under the command of George Anson to harass the Spaniards on the western coast of South America, for the purpose of cutting off Spanish supplies of wealth from the Pacific area. The Spanish fleet sent out to oppose the British ran into storms; provisions ran out and many ships were wrecked. Anson continued taking prizes during 1741-42, off the Pacific coast, and in June, 1743, captured the Manila galleon containing a vast treasure in Gold and Silver. Cox I, p. 49. Hill 1817. National Maritime Museum I, 109. Sabin 1625. Manuscript
Visitors book for guests of the Hythe Golf Club, founded in 1894, with 78 manuscript signatures penned on 10 leafs. 8vo. Full calf binding, with impressed heraldic seal to front, raised lettering "CCW The Links Hythe" also to front, five raised bands to spine, untrimmed leafs. Volume measures approximately 21 x 26,5 x 2,5 cm. Wear to boards, front bowed slightly, otherwise in very good condition, containing some notable signatures. Members of the British monarchy's household are featured in the volume, with signatures made on 8 August 1823, including Albert, Duke of York, (later King George VI). His new bride, Elizabeth, Duchess of York (later the Queen Mother) evidently accompanied him, he signing on her behalf. Also with them, and signing in the original, was lady-in-waiting Katharine Meade, as well as the Duke's advisor Sir Louis Greig. Sir Clement Anderson Montague-Barlow, 1st Baronet, who at the time was Minister of Labour and a member of the Privy Council, also signed on the same day, as well as six others. Having just been married in April, during the summer of 1923 Albert and Elizabeth, future King and Queen of the United Kingdom, were travelling a fair bit. They first settled into White Lodge, in Richmond Park. They were spotted at the Richmond Show, and shortly after that at the Hendon Air Show. They visited Holyrood House in Edinburgh in July. Their social life was beginning on a grand scale. At the end of the season, they went to stay at Molecomb and attended the races at Goodwood. The present volume reveals a little-known and rather private event at the Hythe Links Golf Course on 8 August 1923. Among other elite visitors whose signatures are present in the volume, we find: - Antarctic explorer Herbert G. Ponting - Sir William Letts a pioneer of the British motor industry and founder member of the Automobile Association - City of London Alderman Sir Maurice Jenks, and family - Sir Samuel George Shead Esq. who was appointed one of the two Sheriffs of London in 1915 - Sir Herbert Benjamin Cohen 2nd Baronet Cohen of Highfield - Colonel J.V. Delahaye, first president of the WOSB. Manuscript
8vo. 19 pages, plus introduction, penned on 6 string-tied double leafs bearing the watermark 'Cansell 1834.' Item measures approximately 10,5 x 17,5 cm. Slight age-toning, otherwise in very good condition. Unrecorded English manuscript translation of Ahmet Resmî Efendi's lesser known narrative "Viyana Sefaretnamesi" in which he described his diplomatic embassy to Vienna during the Seven Years' War. This is an abridged work, providing a summary of the journey from Istanbul to Vienna in 1757, and most importantly, his official meeting with Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany. The English writer includes footnotes on some Ottoman custom and terminology, drawing these from the work of Austrian diplomat and orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1774-1856) who, at around this same time, had translated the earlier Sefâretnâme of Evliya Efendi ito English. Ahmet Resmî Efendi's report "Viyana Sefaretnamesi" was written immediately upon his return to Istanbul from Vienna in 1758. Manuscript
A collection of manuscript and printed materials by celebrated poet, playwright, lyricist and Consul John Howard Payne consisting of an unpublished, autograph poem, an autograph letter written from Tunis as the resident American Consul dealing with the matter of an insult to the American flag as well as an account of the repatriation of his remains to American home soil from Tunis in Africa to Oak Hill Cemetery in Georgetown. A specially bound volume titled 'John Howard Payne - a Biographical Sketch' by Charles H. Brainard, Coolidge, Washington, DC 1885 providing an interesting Biography and dealing with the repatriation of Payne's remains to Washington 30 years after he died in Africa. The account is very detailed, leaves nothing to the imagination as far as the transportation of the remains are concerned and is accompanied by some photographic plates. Bound in a special full morocco presentation binding, all edges gilt, gilt inner dentelles, silk moire endpapers. A beautifully executed printed work and binding in fine condition. Manuscript
Two signed membership documents formally accepting English geographer Monica Mary Cole into two scientific societies for the learned, the Royal Geographical Society and the Geologists' Association, respectively. 8vo. Two separate printed documents, three leafs combined, each document completed, signed and dated by the respective society's secretary. Leafs measure approximately 20,5 x 26 cm. Creasing to one document, otherwise in very good condition. Monica Mary Cole (1922-1994) was an English geographer, lecturer, and author, an intellectual woman and polyglot, whose legacy has been described by her colleagues as "a leader in her chosen field of academic research" who "scaled the heights of a profession that, even today, finds too few women as the incumbents of chairs." She left the Royal Geographical Society £10,000 for it to establish a research travel grant for young female physical geographists. The Archives of the Royal Holloway, University of London holds a collection of papers relating to Cole. They include her personal papers and objects connected to her career as a geographer between 1967 and 1970. During her distinguished career she produced pioneering works in the fields of biogeography and geobotany, remote sensing and terrain analysis, and mineral exploration. Her research spanned Central and Southern Africa, Brazil, Venezuela, Australia, China and Finland. Cole was not the archetypal quiet and contemplative academic. She was a larger-than-life character, and people loved to be around her. She was elected as a Fellow in the Royal geographical Society on 22 June 1942. The following year, on 6 December 1943, she also became an elected member of the Geologists' Association of London. The present documents are her official membership declaration papers from each of these societies. In 1947, Miss Cole was appointed geography lecturer under Bill Talbot at the University of Cape Town. She conducted a detailed land utilisation survey on the soils and crop yield affected by climate anomalies in Elgin, Western Cape, which was called "one of the most thorough and useful land utilization surveys carried out anywhere in South Africa" by Stanley Jackson, in The Geographical Journal.
Two manuscript signed letters, Dated 22 February & 10 May 1799, sent by the Assessor and Quaestor of Bückeburg, addressed to both Princess Juliane Wilhelmine Louise of Schaumburg-Lippe and Johann Ludwig Reichsgraf [Count] von Wallmoden-Gimborn, who were jointly governing the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, concerning a specific incident in delayed transportation of corn to Prussian troops. Text is in German. Quarto. 3 pages in manuscript, combined. Double leafs measuring approximately 20 x 32 cm, each with two watermarks, and armorial paper seal impressed over red wax. Very slight creasing, otherwise in very good and original condition, a most interesting correspondence from the fiefdom rule of beloved Princess Juliane. Manuscript
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Chita, Sretensk, Blagoveshchensk, TransBaikal villages, 17 May 1861 - 23 September 1880. Two manuscript journals of an English Engineer in Russian Far East, contracted to test and repair some of the pioneering steamships on the Rivers Amur and Shilka, and other important works in the Trans-Baikal region, beginning his work some 24 years before the founding of the Eastern Siberian Inland Navigation Company, and interacting several notables who were involved in the development projects. 8vo. The earliest volume comprises 113 pages of manuscript entries dating from 17 May 1861 to 22 July 1861 and then a few pages from and then from 1 January 1868 to 22 May 1870, with a tipped-in folding map of the Amur River. The subsequent volume contains 135 pages in manuscript and dates from 14 August 1876 to 23 September 1880. Cloth over marbled boards. Volumes measure approximately 19 x 24 cm and 17 x 20 cm, respectively. Map measures approximately 46 x 20 cm. Wear to boards, hinges loose, otherwise internally clean, an exceedingly scarce and early primary source account of early developments of steam navigation in the Far East of Russia. This account is very early for the region, particularly the inner reaches of the Amur river and its tributaries, where there were scarce inhabitants or even visitors, and thus are even fewer surviving manuscript accounts. It pre-dates the founding of the important "Eastern Siberian Inland Navigation Company" which would be founded in 1885, twenty-four years after the writer began his pioneering work. It also pre-dates the Trans-Siberian Railway which would be built between 1891 and 1916 under the supervision of Russian government ministers personally appointed by Tsar Alexander III and his son, the Tsarevich Nicholas (later Tsar Nicholas II). The writer's arrival occurs only three years after the Aigun Treaty in 1858, through which the area north of the Amur belonging to the Manchu Qing dynasty since the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk was suddenly ceded to Russia. The Amur River has formed Russia's border with China since the 1858 Aigun Treaty and the 1860 Treaty of Peking. A folding map compiled in 1858 according to contemporary Russian sources, delineates the winding route of the Amur River throughout the Russian-Chinese borderlands, from Lake Baikal, to the mountainous Transbaikal region, to the Sea of Okhotsk snd the Strait of Tartary. Manuscript
8vo, 154 pages, 80 pages of ads, bound in original publisher's cloth, heavily annotated and inscribed by author on title page, a rare Presentation Copy in very good condition. A linguistic and and folkloric study, issued in the publisher's Oriental Series. Scarce in the first edition. Tsuni-Goam is a figure in the Khoikhoi mythology. He is sometimes called a trickster figure, similar to Cagn of the related Bushmen people. In other contexts, he appears as a patron of hunters and in some stories he even had a part in creating the world. The multiple roles of have been called a reflection of the fluidity of the Khoisan's religious resources and rituals, which are usually ambiguous and lack in standardization. He was also a life-death-rebirth figure, dying and resurrecting himself on numerous occasions. Resulting from this, his funeral cairns can be found in many locations in southern Africa, and it is customary to throw a stone onto them for good luck Manuscript
Signed by the author on the front endpaper. Size: 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall eng
First American edition. Hardcover. 341 pages. Inscribed, "To Casper Citron with Best Wishes"... Heyerdahl 9.14.1971 on half-title page. B&W illustrations and 111 colour photographs of his expeditions. Dark green cloth with dustjacket slightly chipped at extremities, otherwise, in very good condition. Heyerdahl, the Kon-Tiki explorer, describes his two trips from Africa to South America aboard papyrus reed boats, proving it is possible.
Octavo, xvii,347p; viii, 425p. 21 plates, includes foldout illustration of Sistine Chapel ceiling. Bound in original publisher's green cloth, very light foxing, a stellar example of this book. This a presentation copy to Samuel Gobat, Bishop of Jerusalem: "Presented to Bishop Gobat with the affectionate regards of the author, Blaise castle, Augt 19th 1861".
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.
Octavo in black slipcase, black plastic spiral-bound; [54] p : col. ill. ; 21 cm. Signed by author. || Hebrew language -- Alphabet -- Religious aspects -- Spiritual life; Judaism; Cabala.
Primary source manuscript signed letter written during the great Saxony famine, which claimed many civilian lives, addressed to the Count of Lippe-Alverdissen [Philipp Ernest II], concerning the scarcity of corn. Text is in German. Quarto. 3 pages in manuscript. Double leaf aid paper measuring approximately 20 x 32 cm, with two watermarks, red and black marbles wax seal of a dove with olive branch. Minor indication of moisture to upper margin unobtrusive to text, otherwise in very good condition, a fascinating early correspondence with a beautiful intact red wax seal. Rare primary source account concerning a matter of urgency - the shortage of corn in the regions surrounding Lower Saxony - during the 1771-1772 famine, which reveals the geographical extent of the calamity as it spread beyond Saxony to its neighbouring counties, and provides specific corn measurements recorded by a notable corn keeper and merchant in Münster. The writer, W. Helbricht, appears to be the "frumentarius" (a corn dealer), and also the "kornschreiber" (one who keeps record of the corn). In his correspondence to the count, he pleads for mercy, explaining that in Alverdisser there had not been much corn recently. He provides specific measurements to illustrate the dire circumstances. His wax seal is also telling of the period, being a crisp image of a dove holding an olive branch, the traditional symbol of peace and hope. The scarcity of corn was so great in Saxony and Southern Germany, that large numbers of civilians died of starvation, some estimates citing approximately 150,000 deaths.
[Berlin], 22 February [1895]. Rudolf Diesel's retained copy of his own signed manuscript letter to Samuel Breslauer, following up on previous correspondence concerning the installation of his prototype diesel engine, during the design stage. Text is in German. 4to. Single leaf, 4 lines of text on onion skin paper measuring approximately 30 x 24 cm. Minor age-toning, otherwise in very good condition. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), needing no introduction, was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who is world-famous for having invented the Diesel engine. At the time of this letter, Diesel was diligently working on altering and perfecting his 1893 engine design. This design would later be known as the diesel engine. The first prototype Motor 150/400, had been completed 12 July 1893. Initial tests proved it to be a successful concept. By October 1895, after the first prototype had been converted into the second prototype Motor 220/400, it had become clear that, a completely new engine had to be designed from scratch. On 20 February 1896, Krupp, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg, and Diesel, decided to start the development of the new engine. The new engine was supposed to be a 250 mm bore engine with a 400 mm stroke. On 5 March 1896, Diesel filed a patent application for supercharging; on 26 March, it was decided to build the new engine with a supercharger. In order to improve the efficiency of the development process, a new design bureau was built directly into Diesel's Augsburg testing laboratory. Several young engineers worked there, including Imanuel Lauster. On 30 April 1896, after Lauster had completed the drawings, the workshop at Augsburg began making parts for the engine. The first successful Diesel engine Motor 250/400, designed by Rudolf Diesel, was officially tested in 1897 by German industrial engineer Moritz Schröter. Schröter concluded, "we are beholding a quite marketable machine that has been thoroughly designed with great attention to every single detail." At this time, several firms bought licences for building legal copies of the Motor 250/400. It is now on display at the German Technical Museum in Munich. The recipient of the correspondent is Samuel Breslauer (1870-1942), a lawyer, journalist and editor, who rose to be head of the Politics department for the Berlin newspaper "Berliner Lokal Anzeiger", a daily newspaper with one of the highest national circulations of its time. Breslauer is remembered as one of the numerous Jews who were captured and deported camp during the holocaust. Surely his public role would have made him an immediate target by the German extremist leader. In August 1942, Breslauer and his wife Bertha were taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp where they both died, she within four days.
Rudolf Diesel's retained copy of his own signed manuscript letter to Samuel Breslauer, concerning the installation of a gas engine. Text is in German. 4to. Two single leafs, 2 pages of text on onion skin paper measuring approximately 30 x 24 cm. Minor age-toning, otherwise in very good condition. In this correspondence, Diesel describes alterations being made to the design of his first prototype, making comments on the compressor, transmission, and the lighting system (ignition), among other things. The second prototype, described here, would be built by October the same year. The specific plan for this engine model is noted in the upper margin: Plan F.B.930. Rudolf Christian Karl Diesel (1858-1913), needing no introduction, was a German inventor and mechanical engineer who is world-famous for having invented the Diesel engine. At the time of this letter, Diesel was diligently working on altering and perfecting his 1893 engine design. This design would later be known as the diesel engine. The first prototype Motor 150/400, had been completed 12 July 1893. Initial tests proved it to be a successful concept. By October 1895, after the first prototype had been converted into the second prototype Motor 220/400. After testing, and always seeking to improve, again it was decided that a completely new engine had to be designed from scratch. On 20 February 1896, Krupp, Maschinenfabrik Augsburg, and Diesel, decided to start the development of the new engine. The new engine was supposed to be a 250 mm bore engine with a 400 mm stroke. On 5 March 1896, Diesel filed a patent application for supercharging; on 26 March, it was decided to build the new engine with a supercharger. In order to improve the efficiency of the development process, a new design bureau was built directly into Diesel's Augsburg testing laboratory. Several young engineers worked there, including Imanuel Lauster. On 30 April 1896, after Lauster had completed the drawings, the workshop at Augsburg began making parts for the engine. The first successful Diesel engine Motor 250/400, designed by Rudolf Diesel, was officially tested in 1897 by German industrial engineer Moritz Schröter. Schröter concluded, "we are beholding a quite marketable machine that has been thoroughly designed with great attention to every single detail." At this time, several firms bought licences for building legal copies of the Motor 250/400. It is now on display at the German Technical Museum in Munich. The recipient of the correspondent is Samuel Breslauer (1870-1942), a lawyer, journalist and editor, who rose to be head of the Politics department for the Berlin newspaper "Berliner Lokal Anzeiger", a daily newspaper with one of the highest national circulations of its time. Breslauer is remembered as one of the numerous Jews who were captured and deported camp during the holocaust. Surely his public role would have made him an immediate target by the German extremist leader. In August 1942, Breslauer and his wife Bertha were taken to the Theresienstadt concentration camp where they both died, she within four days.
Manuscript signed discourse written at the onset of the Panic of 1837, concerning the ethics and obligations of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Bank in Trenton which had been established less than three years earlier, by respected Trenton attorney and Whig politician William Halsted (1794-1878) who had recently been elected a Member of the United States Representatives to represent New Jersey, signed and dated in the original by the author. 8vo. 8 pages in manuscript, penned recto and verso, each leaf affixed to the next with two spots of glue to upper margin, measuring approximately 20 x 25 cm, and featuring an embossed cameo of a three-masted barque. Some creasing, otherwise in very good condition. At the request of the Directors of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Bank of Trenton, from a legal standpoint, Halsted answers three specific questions regarding the bank's refusal (inability) to redeem paper currency into specie (silver or gold coins). His erudite assessment surely resulted in careful deliberation by the members of the board, while it provides for us now a scarce period perspective of the historic financial crisis. Halsted's discourse is dated 8 June 1837. A financial assessment of the Mechanics' and Manufacturers' Bank in Trenton was reviewed at the Legislature's General Assembly of 24 October 1837. Following the publication of a detailed banking statement, as seen in the volumes of the Legislature, the State Gazette of 22 December 1837 published this remark, "The condition of The Mechanics Bank is now before the Community and it is proved to be worthy of great confidence." William Halstead (1794-1878) was an American Whig Party politician who represented New Jersey at large in the United States House of Representatives from 1837-1839. Halstead was elected as a Whig to the Twenty-Fifth United States Congress (4 March 1837 to 3 March 1839). Manuscript
Signed letter by James Foote Gibb, affluent shipwright and partner of Gibb and Hutchinson firm. 8vo. Single-leaf, his company's printed stationery, The Ben Line of Steam Tugs. Leaf measures approximately 20cm x 25cm. Very good condition. James Foote Gibb, together with business partner Allan Hutchison, carried on business as shipwrights at the Ratcliff Dry Dock in Shadwell, East London until October 1871, at which time the partnership was dissolved, Hutchison entering retirement and Gibb continuing on his own. In December 1882, five months after this letter was written, he entered into partnership with James Glen Williamson. Gibb's office was located in n City Chambers, Railway Place, Fenchurch Street, in the City of London, advertised on his letterhead. Dealing with matters of personal business, the recipient of this letter is identified only as Annie, and appears to be a prodigal staff, perhaps servant/cook, returning and making amends.
17 August 1862. Official certificate of appointment issued by the British Armed Forces to Dr. John Campbell Bow, Esq. as "Surgeon to Our Forces." Document measures approximately 16 x 12 inches, completed in manuscript, signed by an officer of the War Office, witnessed in the hand of a Field Marshall, and bearing the paper seal of Queen Victoria. Filing annotations to verso are dated Bengal, 17 April 1863. Stamped at the War office in London 11.5.1866 together with a ten shilling embossed revenue stamp. Fascinating document, assigning a new surgeon to the Bengal Army subsequent to the Indian Mutiny of 1857, during the British Crown's re-structuring of administration and rule over the Indian subcontinent, and implementation of the British Raj The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of the British Raj within the British Empire. The Sepoy rebellion was a result of various grievances, and ultimately led to the dissolution of the East India Company in 1858. It also led the British to reorganize the army, the financial system and the administration in India. Manuscript
Three (3) original signatures of Hardy Amies, the couturier for Queen Elizabeth for some thirty-nine years, contained in three books from his personal library, and each also containing his bookplate. 8vo. Three volumes each signed and dated by Amies to front endpaper, very slight wear to boards, otherwise in Very Good condition, signed on crisp, clean leafs. Sir Edwin Hardy Amies, KCVO (1909-2003), was a British fashion designer, best known for being the dress designer for HM Queen Elizabeth II for thirty-nine years. In the 1930s Amies rose to become one of Britain's leading couturiers and his salon was one of the few to rival the great dress houses of Paris. After a successful pre-war career as a designer in other people’s fashion houses, Amies opened his own establishment at 14 Savile Row in 1946. In 1950 Amies made several outfits for Elizabeth's royal tour to Canada (then Princess Elizabeth). He received the award of a Royal Warrant as official dressmaker in 1955. One of his best known creations is the gown he designed in 1977 for Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee portrait. Knighted in 1989, Amies held the warrant until 1990, when he gave it up so that younger designers could create for the Queen. He was also the couturier for Lady Alice Egerton, who was appointed as lady-in-waiting to the young Princess Elizabeth in 1949, and who would go on to become Woman of the Bedchamber when Elizabeth became queen in 1953. For three years he travelled and worked in France and Germany; becoming fluent in both countries' languages. Amies worked for a customs agent and then as an English tutor in Antibes, and later in Bendorf, Germany where in 1928 he acquired one of these volumes for his library. Around the same time, another of the volumes was acquired in a village on the Mosel River. He returned to England in 1930. The third volume is signed by him in 1933 and appears to have been gifted to him by famous Austrian writer Karl Heinrich Waggerl. Manuscript
A numbered (278) and printed document granting financial compensation to a slave owner in Suriname, by the Dutch government, signed in the original by numerous parties including the Gouverneur de Kolonie Suriname [Governor of Suriname] Van Lansberge, the Administrateur van Financienvan Het Ministerie van Kolonien te s-Gravenhague [Finance Administrator for the Ministry of the Colonies, at The Hague], and the recipient of the funds who is not only a slave owner but well-known chirurgeon A.D. Charlouis. Text is in Dutch. With steel engraved colonial coat of arms, official ink stamps, the embossed stamp of the "Klein Kolonie Suriname" government. Single leaf measuring approximately 26,5 x 13 cm. Very good condition, beautifully preserved, a scarce and historical slavery document with notable signature. The present document is interesting, as is was made almost two years after the official abolition of slave ownership in Suriname, which reveals the lengthy time period over which this process was stretched. The government's primary concern was not the freedom of the enslaved people; it was the preservation of the plantation economy, lest there be a mass exodus of workers leaving the plantations. The latter was cited as the reason and justification for the mandatory employment contract which accompanied 'free status' of a slave. Chirurgeon Andries Daniel Charlouis (Emden, Lower Saxony 1820 - Paramaribo, Suriname 1880) is the recipient of this compensation. Historical evidence reveals that he had more slaves than what is represented with this document, and that he released them gradually. He was well-known in the field of medical science, particularly for his studies on medicinal matters and the indigenous people of South America; his name appears in numerous medical journals of the period. Reinhart Frans Cornelius van Lansberge (1804-1873), whose signature authorizes this document, was the Governor-General of Suriname from 1 August 1859 to 29 June 1867. Slavery was abolished in the Dutch West Indies during his governorship. Previous to this post, he was Governor of Curacao from 1855 to 1859, and formerly Dutch Consul-General Venezuela. Doctor Charlouis, whose original signature is found to verso, received 1935 guilders with this promissory note effective 15 August 1865. This figure represents the release of approximately 6 slaves. A manuscript annotation to upper left margin, penned in a West Germanic language, refers to the abolition act: "Opheffing der slavernij... 1863" [Elimination of slavery... 1863]. Red ink annotations reveal that this document was registered on 16 September 1865, and signed by a Geregistreerde referendaris J.C. Jaunen [registered secretary]. Additional annotations to the upper margin suggest that the funds were cashed in on 16 October 1865 "Betaalbaar te Amsterdam" [paybale to Amsterdam]. Also interesting to note, two of the signed annotations to verso, those of Charlouis and a witness, make reference to German plantation owner, banker Wilhelm Eduard Ruhmann at Paramaribo. As such, this transaction was most likely transacted at Surinaamsche Bank which had been founded earlier the same year, and the funds dispatched from there to the Dutch government in The Netherlands. The Netherlands abolished the Atlantic slave-trade in 1814. However, localized slavery continued for over half a decade. Slavery was finally abolished in Suriname and the Dutch West Antilles on 1 July 1863 with the Emancipation Act. On that day, about 35,000 slaves in Suriname and 12,000 slaves on the Dutch islands in the Caribbean were given their freedom, or rather a modified version of freedom. Freed men in Suriname come under state supervision for ten years with a mandatory employment contract on the plantations. The slave owners received financial compensation from the government upon releasing their slaves to this system. The Dutch government paid 300 guilders per slave to the owner for the "lost property". (In the Dutch East Indies, payments were far lower, 50 to 350 guilders depending on the age of the slave). The abolition of slavery was referred to as 'emancipation'. Parties were organized in which King William III was presented as a key figure and benefactor of the freed slaves.
Manuscript record of the unexpected arrival of the British HMS Mariner led by Commander Charles Mitchell Mathison in Japan, in 1849, with interest in making surveys around Edo (Tokyo), four years prior to Commodore Perry's arrival, and during Japan's period of isolation (Sakoku) during which most foreigners were prohibited entry in to the country and locals prohibited exit; containing also a description of Japanese castaway Otokichi who was on the British vessel, disguised as a Chinese to evade capital punishment, who later assisted Admiral James Stirling in establishing the 1854 Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty. Text is in Japanese. 8vo. 44 pages in manuscript, plus title page, on 23 unpaginated double leaves. Traditional karitoji binding ("semi-bound" meaning title page and contents without a book cover) string-stitched at spine, fukurotoji style ("bound-pocket" with folded leafs bound into spine), and opening from left to right. Complete in a single volume, measuring approximately 24 x 17 cm. A scant few ink marks to rear leaf margin, indication of some burrowing, unobtrusive to legibility, otherwise in very good condition, beautifully preserved, clean and bright, an exceedingly scarce work. Certainly an assertive manoeuvre, for the British to show up unannounced in the harbour of Edo, Japan was in the state of Sakoku ("locked country"), the isolationist foreign policy of the Tokugawa shogunate under which relations and trade between Japan and other countries were severely limited, and nearly all foreign nationals were barred from entering Japan, while common Japanese people were kept from leaving the country. The long-standing policy had been in place for over two centuries, since 1603, and would last a few more years after the departure of HMS Mariner. It was Commodore Perry in 1853, and his equally brazen arrival with his American Black Ships, that would force the opening of Japan to American trade through a series of treaties called the Convention of Kanagawa, ultimately ending the island's declaration of Sakoku, and facilitating other trade relations with Western nations. On 14 October, 1854, the first limited Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty was signed by Admiral Sir James Stirling and representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate (Bakufu). Yamamoto Otokichi (1818-1867), who was onboard HMS Mariner disguised as a Chinese interpreter during the ship's attempted entry in Japan, later played an instrumental role in establishing this treaty, providing Stirling with intel on language and culture during the negotiations. On 26 August 1858, the Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce was signed by the Scotsman Lord Elgin and representatives of the Tokugawa shogunate for Japan, after the Harris Treaty was concluded. Britain obtained extraterritorial rights on Japanese with the British Supreme Court for China and Japan, in Shanghai. A British iron paddle schooner named Enpiroru was presented to the Tokugawa administration by Bruce as a present for the Emperor from Queen Victoria. A scarce compilation of records from the Japanese perspective on a pre-Perry interaction between Bakufu authorities and a British ship, with references to Otokichi. This manuscript collates four Japanese reports of the British ship the HMS Mariner, which arrived in Japan from Shanghai in May of 1849 to make a topographical survey of the area around Edo (modern-day Tokyo), led by Commander Charles Mitchell Mathison, who had entered the Royal Navy on 5 August 1819. The event marks a very early British appearance at Japan, also pre-dating by four years the imposing arrival of Commodore Perry and his American Black ships also intent on making surveys. The first record briefly describes the layout of the Mariner and the aim of its visit to Japan. It also mentions the considerable Japanese language abilities of the Chinese interpreter on board who explained things in a way that is easy to understand, he in fact being the Japanese castaway Yamamoto Otokichi (1818-1867). The second section records foreign ship sightings from daimyo with guardhouses on the Miura Peninsula. [daimto were the most powerful landholding magnates holding the largest sections of land] The third report describes the meeting of Commander Mathison and the Bakufu intendant Egawa Tarozaemon (1801-1855), a dispute over a map of Japan, and Japanese observations of the ship and the crew. The last report is a copy of Isenokami Abe's (Masahiro Abe: 1819-1857) message to the bugyo (magistrates) and metsuke (censors/inspectors) in which, with HMS Mariner in mind, he expresses concern about the increase in the number of foreign ship arrivals in recent years and the abandoning of the Edict to Repel Foreign Ships. Abe notes that if the edict is enforced again, while there is no illegality on the part of the foreign ships, a dispute could arise, thus cautioning the noble families on the coast to prepare defenses. [Only a few years after the arrival of HMS Mariner, Isenokami would play a major role in the signing of the Convention of Kanagawa, as a result of pressure from the Perry Expedition.]
Exceedingly rare and historically significant manuscript complete with manuscript drawings, made circa 1792, transcribing the banned controversial work by Hayashi Shihei which attributed coveted geographical regions to non-Japanese sovereigns, and which led the author to house arrest and his works destroyed by the Shogun. This work centers largely around the indigenous Ainu people and the people living in the Joseon Dynasty (Korea), thus being a very early account of Korea. All text is in Japanese. Author-published. 89 pages in manuscript including title page and end leaf. Indication of once being string-stitched at spine, opening from left to right. Leafs measure approximately 19 x 26 cm. SIGNIFICANT AMOUNT OF WORM BURROWING, some leaves lightly fused together as a result, MAPS NOT PRESENT, nonetheless a valuable historic addition for any library, being an exceedingly scarce surviving manuscript of the famous "Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu" by Hayashi Shihei. One of the earliest attempts to define Japan's outer boundaries, and distinguish it from the neighboring nations, the book deals with Joseon Dynasty (Korea) and the Kingdom of Ryukyu (Okinawa), and Ezo (Hokkaido) and the Ogasawara Islands (Bonin Islands). The content of this work is as controversial today as it was when it was released by the author 235 years ago. A statue of Hayashi Shihei stands in his honour, however, in Kotodai Park, Sendai. This work was emphatically criticized, immediately banned, and destroyed by the shogunate, all but a very scant few copies, that is, which were kept in hiding by scholars who took it upon themselves to secretly transcribe the important writings, with the original in hand. This is one of those surviving secret manuscripts, which were so very few in number and are exceedingly scarce. Hayashi Shihei (1738-1793) was a Japanese military scholar, political theorist, military strategist, writer, and a retainer of the Sendai Domain. He was a samurai of the Sendai clan issued in 1785 (Tenmei 5). His name is sometimes transliterated, according to the Sino-Japanese reading, as Rin Shihei’'. Hayashi is known as one of the "Three Excelling Men of the Kansei Period" (Kansei no san-kijin). Circa 1785 he wrote the highly controversial "Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu" [Illustrated General Survey of the Three Countries] which consisted of five maps and one text volume which detailed the customs of Korea, Ryukyu Kingdom, and Ezo country (Hokkaido), recounting an exploratory geographical survey of the regions that were then the frontiers of Japan, including Korea, Hokkaido, and the Ryukyu Islands, also providing descriptions of the inhabitants, including the Ainu. It contained, among other repugnant content in the eyes of the shogun, the attribution of Korean sovereignty over the Dokdo / Takeshima / Liancourt archipelago, and secondly, Chinese sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands [Diaoyu Islands] instead of recognizing it as part of the Ryukyu Kingdom (which had been a vassal state of the Satsuma Domain of Japan with 'de jure' status since 1609). Not a single publisher dared to put their name on the work, for fear of retribution, and thus, Hayashi released it independently in the years of 1787-1791, at his own expense. In 1792 [Kansei 4], the Tokugawa shogunate evaluated the content of this book, declared it a delusion, and banned it. The printings of Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu also became collateral victim of this banning. Almost all the original woodblock-printed versions of Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu were collected and destroyed. In 1787, he had published a second work of enlightened perspective and concern, titled ???? "Kaikoku Heidan" [Military Defense of a Maritime Nation]. This was a 16-volume work which brought to light the potential inadequacy in the military defense of Japan during the Edo period, specifically highlighting the island's vulnerability from the sea, as well as the need for Japan to adopt Western military science for improved defenses along Japanese frontiers, and the re-education of the samurai. Hayashi believed the nation's crisis was due to the repeated arrivals of foreign ships. He complained of a lack of organized drill exercises, and stressed the importance of choren, or teamwork drill, rather than mere individual martial training. He gave technical descriptions about shipbuilding, cannons and other military designs. He was especially critical of the Shogunate's sakoku national isolation policy. The work generated great interest, but it too, was banned in May 1792, on the grounds that national security matters were being discussed without official consent. This work having been published a few years prior, it was impossible to locate and destroy all printed copies, but the woodblocks were seized and destroyed with those of Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu. Simultaneously, as his two works were banned and destroyed, Hayashi was placed under house arrest. He died the following year, 28 July 1783, at the young age of 54. There were rumours of suicide and speculations of decapitation by authorities, but no evidence for either has surfaced. Ironically, shortly after Hayashi was punished, a Russian ship arrived in Nemuro, and the shogunate was forced to take measures to protect the coast, as had been suggested in Hayashi's "Kaikoku Heidan". In spite of the shogunate's best efforts, a scant few of 'Sangoku Tsuran Zusetsu' survived, thanks to a handful of audacious erudite men, and manuscript transcripts of his maps began to circulate covertly in learned Japanese circles. This book also went from Nagasaki to Holland and Germany through Katsuragawa Hoshu (1751-1809), who was a physician to the Shogun from 1777 and an Edan scholar in Edo; it was subsequently translated into European languages in Russia. In 1872, it was translated into French by the German Oriental scholar Heinrich Klaproth. Shugun Tokugawa Ienari, who suppressed and destroyed these works, and who exiled the author to his home, reigned from 1787-1837. In the first year of his reign there were rice riots in Edo and Osaka. Later tragedy, the Great Fire of Kyoto and the Tenpo famine took place. And in his strict fashion, in 1817 he ordered the expulsion of Titia Bergsma, the first European woman to visit Japan. The Dutch and Chinese were allowed to visit the country, but only for trade, and no women were permitted. Bergsma never saw her husband again. Credit to Pierre Joppen of Paulus Swaen Gallery, whose research on the subject is exhaustive and from whom some of the above content has been copied.
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.
Manuscript telegraph letter sent from Governor of Hong Kong Sir George William Des Voeux, in cipher, to Colonial Administrator Sir William MacGregor, which offers to the post of Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong, on the same day which Colonial Secretary Frederick Stewart died. Together with a manuscript decipherment, and a signed letter from the decipherer of the message, Sir Henry Wylie Norman, Governor of Queensland. 8vo. Single-leaf telegraph on the stationery of the Telegraph Office Queensland completed in manuscript and dated 29 September 1889; Double leaf manuscript letter on the stationery of the Queensland Government House Brisbane dated 1 October 1889; hand trimmed manuscript note measuring approximately 17,5 x 11,5 cm. All three documents fastened together with a brass pin. Some creasing, minor wear at folds, otherwise in very good condition, a fascinating disclosure of of Hong Kong administrative history perhaps previously unknown to anyone but the parties involved. This is a little-known and private correspondence, concealed for delivery with a colonial cipher language, between two important colonial administrators, concerning the title of Colonial Secretary of Hong Kong. A telegraph from Hong Kong reveals that an offer was made to MacGregor to work in China in 1889. The sender does not reveal himself, and the message in written in code, however a contemporary manuscript decipherment fastened with a brass brad discloses the contents. Sir George William Des Voeux, Governor of Hong Kong is the sender. Des Voeux knew MacGregor well from his time as Governor of Fiji from 1880-1885, during which period he worked with MacGregor who was Treasurer then Colonial Secretary of Fiji. Manuscript