Search Results: Titles starting with J from Bruce Marshall Rare Books

Jean Baptiste Coignard, Paris, 1690, 12mo, title with woodcut device, contemporary sprinkled calf gilt.
First printed in Paris in 1689, with the same imprint. According to Brunet's listing of the 1689 and this 1690 edition "C'est cette [1690] edition que, jusqu'a preuve contraire, nous considerons comme le premiere".
Account of the aristocratic author's two years buccaneering in the West Indies, and the Pacific coast between Guatemala and Chile, presenting both the romantic and bleak sides of the life of a pirate. His principles would not allow him to let his crew molest priests, nuns and churches, and after taking a Spanish town, they would all attend Mass before looting.
An adventurer of aristocratic descent, Raveneau de Lussan sailed at the age of 22 in 1679 from Dieppe to Santo Domingo. To pay off his debts, he joined a band of buccaneers and sailed for almost two years with them (from November 1684 to February 1686). The relation of his adventures is realistic and even brutal.
This, his only… Read More

London, E. Newbury, 1785, Second and enlarged edition, Contemporary calf gilt, with a folding engraved map and 10 engraved plates, one folding which is the first representation of Hawaii.
This work is attributed to Lieutenant John Rickman, who served as second lieutenant on the 'Discovery', Charles Clerk, Commander. This is the first full account in English of Cook's third voyage and has an important description of the death of Cook in Hawaii.It was first published in 1781, three years before the official account.
"This anonymous journal, of Captain Cook's third voyage, was once believed to have been written by John Ledyard, who had actually made liberal use of Lieutenant Rickman's account; hence the confusion. This narrative anticipated the government's authorized account by two years. All the journals kept on board were claimed by the Admiralty, thus the author remained strictly anonymous. The text, especially as regards details of Cook's death, differs considerably from other accounts." Hill
Hill,… Read More

FIRST EDITION, engraved portrait frontispiece, 7 hand-coloured aquatints, 3 engraved maps, 1 folding, light browning to final map, occasional light foxing, old owners signature of H.W. Vincent to title, armorial bookplate and signature to pastedown, contemporary half calf over grey boards, rebacked, original spine laid down, 4to, for John Murray, 1816First edition of this account of the short lived embassy to China. Sir Henry Ellis (1788-1855) was a career diplomat who joined the East India Company in 1805. In 1815 the English Government sent an envoy, under the command of Lord Amherst, to go to Peking to negotiate with the Emperor Kea K'ing on behalf of the British subjects suffering under his rule. In 1816 Ellis joined the mission as Third Commissioner. Ellis was unimpressed by the Chinese, whom he considered xenophobic, ultra-traditional, and uninteresting. The mission ended in failure after Amherst refused to 'kow-tow' (nine strikes of the forehead on the ground) to the emperor. On the return… Read More

FIRST EDITION, viii-349[3], folding map frontispiece showing Central America and the Isthmus of Panama., lower margin of map trimmed without loss, modern speckled calf, a.e.g., 8vo, London, C. Rivington, 1735First edition of an important work on Central America, with a first hand account of the pirates Captain Johnson and Poleas. Cockburn was an English seaman who had sailed to the coast of Central America in 1731. Cockburn's ship was attacked by the infamous pirates Captain Johnson and Poleas off the coast of Jamaica. Johnson was known as a ruthless and bloodthirsty pirate, said to be an excellent shot despite missing a hand. After a five hour battle Cockburn's ship surrendered and Johnson's pirates boarded and looted. Cockburn, Thomas Rounce, Richard Banister, John Holland, Thomas Robinson, and John Ballman found themselves 'naked and wounded', stranded on the shore at Porto-Cavalo. They escaped from jail in San Pedro Sula in Honduras, crossed the Isthmus to San Salvador. They then crossed Guatemala… Read More