A Voyage to Cochin China.

London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, 1824. First English edition, 8vo, pp.xi, [1, blank], 368 - (371)-2. A very good copy bound in dyed contemporary half leather, buckram boards, all edges speckled blue and red. Light rubbing to extremities of boards, light foxing to first and last few leaves. This account of an American voyage to Saigon in 1819-20 was called "a minor treasure of early nineteenth century travel literature on South East Asia" by Milton Osborne in his introduction to the Oxford in Asia Historical Reprint. This work captivating because it was written by a self-described "unlettered seaman", the author being a Lieutenant in the US Navy, who intended for his writing to be "deposited in the archives of the "East India Marine Society of Salem"" and was only published once his friends convinced him it would be of interest to the general reader. Alongside intriguing insights into Saigon and the surrounding regions including Batavia and the Phillipines, the author recounts his journey up the Dong Nai River as one of the first Americans to do so. Also incorporated is considerable nautical information, including a meteorological diary kept in the journey up the Dong Nai river, and a small treatise on thermometrical navigation. Mispaginated with 369-70 missing but text complete. Cordier BS, 2108-9; Sabin 103411 (first edition)