A Sailor's Life Under Four Sovereigns by Keppel, The Hon. Sir Henry, G.C.B, D.C.L - 1899

London: Macmillan & Co. Limited, 1899. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 3 vol. 8vo. [9], x-xiv, [1], 2-340, [2]; [7], viii-xii, [1], 2-339, [3]; [7], viii-xi, [4], 2-350, [2] pp. Contemporary half red morocco over red cloth, spine in six compartments, each bordered by gilt rules with lettering and decorations stamped in gold; all edges gilt. Red and gold marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red silk bookmark bound in each volume. Each volume illustrated with a frontispiece; decorations include numerous in-text illustrations and several full-page illustrations; two full-page maps and a double-plate map in volume 1, double-plate map and four full-page maps in volume 2, two full-page maps and a double-plate map in volume 3. A brief signed note (single sheet, 11.5 cm by 18 cm) from Keppel to a friend (stating in part "the Hague is an extensive place to address so I shall send this to St. Stephens Club") is laid in to volume 1 (note: this is an actual holograph, not the facsimile dedication bound in to volume 1 which is frequently misrepresented as such). Howgego 1800-1850, K8; ODNB, L. G. C. Laughton 'Keppel, Sir Henry'. Henry Keppel was an English naval officer for most of the nineteenth century. He undertook extensive voyages to the East and West Indies. After meeting James Brooke in 1842, in Singapore, the two campaigned against piracy in the region. From 1844 to 1847 Keppel was retired until he returned to Borneo in the Maeander to assist Brooke at combatting piracy. Keppel served in the Crimean War, and fought in the Second Opium War in 1857. He became admiral of the fleet in 1877 and he was appointed as the first and principal naval aide-de-camp to Queen Victoria in 1878. An attractive set of Keppel's account of his life and service in the Royal Navy. A Very Good or better set with some mild rubbing to the boards (more significant on the front of volume 3), two ownership markings to all volumes, a touch of loss to the paper on the front gutter of volume one, leaves show scattered foxing and an occasional tiny dampstain.