Rare books from Rachel Smith Books

M'Clure, Robert. Osborn, Sherard, ed. The Discovery of the North-West PassageLondon, 1856 first edition, Octavo 21.5 x 13.5 cm. Longman, Brown [&c.]. 406 pages with 26 pages of advertisements dated March 1856. Folding engraved hand-colored map, 4 lithograph plates, original blue cloth with gilt lettering on spine, terracotta end papers with printed advertisements. The text is clean and tight without any markings. The fold out map is in fine condition with no tears and is properly folded. The binding is unmarked with no fading, spine lettering is bright, slight possible repair to the head of the spine otherwise a FINE copy.Robert M'Clure was a British naval Captain who is best known for his discovery of the course of the Northwest passage. He commanded the H.M.S. Investigator and along with Captain Richard Collinson in the H.M.S. Enterprise, they were sent in 1850 by the British Admiralty to the Arctic to search for the lost Franklin expedition. Their approach was to be from the West through… Read More

FITZCLARENCE (Lieut.-Col. [George Augustus Frederick]) JOURNAL of a ROUTE ACROSS INDIA, through Egypt, to England. London: John Murray, 1819. First Edition. 4to., pp. [iv] + xxiv+502+[2], complete with 9 fine colored aquatints each with tissue-guard (light offsetting in places through the tissue guards), very impressive large folding "Map of the Seat of War in India" (some offset) 22' x 27', apprears to be unopened with no tears (only partially opened in photo), map of Egypt, 4 battle plans with armies coloured, each with facing leaf of explanatory text, and 4 other plates, half-title, errata, terminal imprint leaf present; contemporary polished calf, neatly rebacked with some scuffing of the corners and covers. Abbey Travel 519; Blackmer 597, Toolely 222.Fitzclarence served in "India, where he became aide-de-camp to the Marquis of Hastings...When peace was arranged with the Maharajah Scindiah the event was considered of sufficient importance to send the despatches in duplicate, and Firzclarence was… Read More

Goodsir, Robert AnstrutherAn Arctic Voyage to Baffin's Bay and Lancaster Sound, in Search of Friends with Sir John Franklin.London. Presentation Copy, First edition. 1850. 12mo, viii, 152pp., [8]. Tinted lithograph frontispiece, folding map. Original blue blind stamped cloth. Gilt lettering on the spine. Skillfully recased. Library stamps of the Medical Society Edinburgh of which Goodsir was a member. A book plate "from the Travel Library of Beekman Pool" on inside the front cover. Folding map of Baffin Bay. Three pages of the publisher's advertisements are bound in at the end. Text is clean except an unfortunate old ink spill affecting 5 pages with no loss of text, Binding has some fading to the spine, and slight surface scuffing and discoloration to boards. Otherwise a very good copy in the scarce original binding.The presentation inscription reads: "For the Library of the Royal Medical Society from the Author."
Goodsir's brother was missing from the Franklin expedition and this is the… Read More

Malay Archipelago The Land of the Orang-Utan, and the Bird of Paradise.Alfred Russel Wallace. London, Macmillian, 1869. First Edition, Fine Condition. Two volumes, 8Vo. Publisher's original green cloth, the spine and covers with decorative gilt. Pages: xxiii, 478, [2], 51, [1]. Vol 2, [4], 524.
Consisting of: two frontispiece, six engraved plates, nine maps (2 folded), forty three illustrations in the text body, fifty four pages of advertisements with the early date of Dec. 1868.
The covers are in Fine condition. The gilt is bright and not showing any wear. The only shelf wear is the bottom cover of volume one shows the slightest bit of scuffing from being pulled from a shelf. Both volumes front endpapers have the interesting bookplates of Robert Blagden Hale and Hale Aderley.
The text block is a "Fine minus" because of the following: The title page of volume one has a spot of off-setting from the tissue guard (see photo). Page 20 upper left side has a faint finger smudge. Page 49 has a short… Read More

Meyer, Dr. Hans. Zum Scheedom Des Kilimandscharo. 40 Photographien.

Berlin: Herm. J. Meidinger, 1888. First ed. Folio 310mm x 395mm. Publisher's original dark green pictorial cloth binding, with gilded and black lettering, and illustration of Mt. Kilimanjaro.Cover is very striking and attractive with no fading. One corner has small repair expertly done.Slight scuffing along the side of the spine. Spine has been re-backed keeping original endpapers. ALL TEXT is in GERMAN, and is clean, bright, and the text block is tight. Contents contain title page, forward, index of photographs, and a limited amount of text explanation of the 40 mounted photographs. Photographs are clear and sharp with no fading, and mounted two to a leaf on heavy card stock. There are faint illegible circular library embossings on the lower corner of 20 of the photographs (barely visible in the photos provided with this description). Also an embossed library marking is on the rear cover. The leaves of card-stock have… Read More

Grant, Captain James Augustus.A Walk Across Africa or Domestic Scenes from my Nile Journey. London, William Blackwood and Sons, 1864. First edition, 8vo, Original green cloth. PRESENTATION copy. Folding map (17 ½" x 35 ½"). The binding's corners have been expertly repaired from being bumped. Some slight shelf wear on the front cover. Half-title is present. The text is clean with no markings other than the presentation inscription, and some tape residue on the dedication and table of contents pages. Small top corner piece of page 443 missing, no loss of text (see photo). Slight darkening to the spine and some wear to the gilt decoration on the front cover. Map in the rear pocket is clean and has no tears. 39 pages of the publisher's advertisements follow the text.Grant's account of his journey across Eastern Equatorial Africa with John Speke to Victoria Nyanza to find the source of the Nile. This was Speke's second attempt to find the source, and in 1859 he invited Grant to join him on the… Read More

Arabian Sands, by Wilfred Thesiger. Longman, London, 1959, first edition with Dust Jacket. A very attractive signed copy of his very popular account of his explorations in Arabia. "The book covers the five years ending in 1950 which, with the exception of brief interruptions only, Thesiger spent in and around the Empty Quarter, the half million square miles of one of the cruelest deserts of the world.", (from back jacket).This copy is signed on the title page by Thesiger. The folding map of the Empty Quarter is in the rear pocket and except for my inspection it appears to have never been opened. The condition of the book is near Fine with the detractions limited to some tape residue on the front end paper that probably held a newspaper clipping, and a previous owner's signature on the same endpaper. There is no fading to the dust jacket or the book. The dust jacket would rate a VG+ and is not price clipped. There is some shelf wear in several places but no tears or nicks.

WHYMPER, Edward. Travels amongst the Great Andes of the Equator.
London: John Murray, 1892. SIGNED PRESENTATION COPY. WITH: Supplementary Appendix. London: John Murray, 1891. WITH: How to Use the Aneroid Barometer. London: John Murray, 1891. Three volumes. Octavo, original full green cloth gilt, pamphlet in original printed wrappers, unopened.Second edition (issued in the same year as the first) of Whymper's richly illustrated account of mountain adventure in the Andes, by one of the 19-century's premier mountaineers With 20 full-page and 118 in-text wood engravings and four maps (three folding, one loose in a pocket at rear as issued). This copy inscribed by Whymper on the front free endpaper, "To Mrs. Bruce, with the compliments & thanks of the author, Edward Whymper. March, 1895." Accompanied by the first edition of his Supplementary Appendix, and the scarce first edition of his pamphlet on the aneroid barometer.
Interiors fine. Light rubbing to corners of cloth volumes, A fine inscribed set… Read More

Petherick, JohnEgypt, Soudan and Central Africa. With Explorations from Khartoum on the White Nile to the Regions of the Equator.William Blackwood and Sons, First Edition 1861. 8Vo. Xii, 482 pages, 16 pp of Ads, Large folding map, 4 pp of Subscriber List of supporters for a future expedition on the Nile (see below*) includes The Earl de Grey & Ripon as a subscriber. Inscribed Presentation Copy on the half title. "To the Right Hobble. The Earl de Grey & Ripon with the respectful compliments of the Author". De Grey was later Secretary. for India,, and for the Colonies. "Petherick was a mining engineer, traveller and diplomat. Petherick had been a mining engineer in Wales until 1845 when he arrived in Egypt to prospect for coal on behalf of the governor, Mohammed Ali, in whose employment he remained until 1848. In 1846 Petherick reached Kahartoum and began a series of explorations to the south. From 1853 he was on the White Nile, mainly as an elephant-hunter and ivory-trader, during which time he… Read More

Crawfurd, JohnJournal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin China.
London 1830, second edition, 2 volumes, Colburn and Bentley. 475, 459 pages. 7 folding plates, 13 woodcuts/engravings, 3 engraved maps (2 are fold-outs), and fold-out glossary.
Very attractive 19th century Dark Maroon Morocco with elaborate gilt. All edges in gilt. Bindings are in very fine condition except for a slight corner bump on the upper right corner of vol. 2. Provenance: ownership signature of Reginald Crawfurd. Text is crisp, clean and without any markings save for some light spotting/offsetting on some of the plates and maps. The large folding map has one tear that has been expertly repaired. A folding plate of the Siamese alphabet and another folding plate of the Pali alphabet. This copy has the folding chart "Vocabularies" following the appendix in volume 2. A fine complete two volume set is scarce in this condition.Crawfurd was trained as a doctor in Edinburgh, and… Read More

Cunynghame, Arthur
An Aide-de-Camp's Recollections of Service in China, a Residence in Hong-Kong, and visits to other islands in the Chinese seas.
London, Saunders and Otley. 1844, 2 volumes, First Editions. Binding is the original publisher's Duck-Egg Blocked Cloth. 8vo., pp. xi, [1], 311, [1]; viii, 332, [8]. Aquatint frontispiece in both volumes, and 7 aquatint plates and 15 line illustrations in the text. Several of the plates have spotting (mostly in the margins). The volume 1 frontispiece has a small damp stain. The upper boards have a pictorial in gilt, and the spines are lettered in gilt. The covers are a little soiled with a few marks and are sunned along the spines. The corners are lightly bumped. The text block is clean and bright aside from the spotting on the frontispieces and several plates. A good + sound set, seldom at auction (auction records show only 1 copy in 1974), and uncommon in the original cloth.A first edition of Cunynghame's account of his service in China and Hong… Read More

POSTAL ATLAS OF CHINAChina Postal Atlas showing the establishments and postal routes in each province.
Nanking, Directorate General Posts, 1933. Large folio (62 x 38 cm.). Third edition (2nd edition 1919). "The present issue has been corrected up to various dates in 1933. For the first time, the Postal atlas shows telegraph offices, air-mail lines and motor-vehicle routes" (from Preface). Original green cloth with title lettering in gilt on upper cover.
Three preliminary leaves in Chinese, the preface is in Chinese, English and French, and the double page title/map index is in Chinese and English.
30 chromolithographs: double page index map, 26 double page maps (6 with fold-outs), 4 single page maps. 6 page index in Chinese and 2 page index in English. Ex Library copy with usual markings. Minor light rubbing and scuffing to binding, faint speckle to top left corner of upper board (see photo). The text is very clean and bright and appears to have been little used if at all. The condition of the text… Read More

Alken, HenrySporting Discoveries, or the Miseries of Driving, in a series of seven plates, Being Hints to Young Sportsmen, By Ben Tally-Ho.
London 1817. Published by S. and J. Fuller. One, and perhaps the rarest, of the "Sporting Discoveries" series. Worldcat locates only 1 copy at Yale University. Seven colored aquatint plates, in very good condition, and are still sewn together. The top paper wrap is detached and in poor condition…the bottom wrap is missing. Plates are housed in an attractive cloth clam-shell case.

King, Richard.Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Arctic Ocean, in 1833, 1834, and 1835; under the Command of Capt. Back.Two volumes, 8vo., pp vol 1: iii, xv, [1 blank], 312, vol 2: viii, 321, [1 imprint]. Two engraved frontispieces, one lithographic map, and one engraved plate. The map has light spotting and the engraved plates have damp-marking. Two pages in vol. 2 have a stain probably from candle wax (photo). Otherwise the text is very clean except for the aforementioned. Contemporary full blue/green calf, letters on the spine in gilt on Morocco labels. Scuffing and some wear on the bindings with a small missing piece of leather on each copy (see photos). Ownership signatures of Mathew King in a 19th century hand, in both copies. Richard King was the surgeon and naturalist on the Back voyage searching for Sir John Ross. A very good copy of a scarce voyage of Arctic exploration.

A. E. I. ARABIA EGYPT INDIAIsabel Burton. Signed inscription by Isabel Burton.London: William Mullan, Near Fine, 1st. Edition, 1879, 8vo. Viii, 488 Pp. Frontispiece colored map showing the route from London to India. Colored foldout map of the route through India, 12 plates. The original binding is near fine save for the corners being slightly bumped, and a small tear at the top of the spine (see photo). The text is Fine, and is clean, tight, bright, with no markings and probably unread since a few of the pages are uncut. Inscribed by Isabel Burton to her cousin: "To George Smart..with Kindest Regards…from his affectionate cousin…Isabel Burton..March 1879". "The rarest of Isabel Burton's books. Near Fine condition and extremely bright gilt cover. This book was in essence and account of Isabel and Richard's Tour of India in the late 1870's. It includes political observations written by Richard but purporting to be Isabel's views on the partition of Turkey. The original source documents for this… Read More