Jungle Life in India; or the Journey and Journals of an Indian Geologist Hardcover - 1880

London: Thos. De La Rue & Co, 1880. First edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo. [6], viii-xv, [2], 2-720, [2] pp. Half contemporary black calf over purple pebbled cloth boards, spine in six compartments with a purple morocco label lettered in gold, all edges decoratively speckled. Illustrated with a frontispiece, a folding map, and with 12 plates and 11 in-text wood engravings. With the errata slip. Hazlitt 147. Geological Magazine, "Valentine Ball, C.B., M.A., and LL.D. (Dublin), F.R.S., F.G.S., M.R.I.A. (1895)", 2(8), 382-383. The bookplate belongs to John Madden, listed in Hazlitt's Role of Honour. Valentine Ball was an Irish geologist and a fellow of the Royal Society and a fellow of Calcutta University. One of his longest occupations was serving on the Staff of the Geological Survey of India. He stumbled upon coal fields in the central peninsula of India, and thus advised the British government on industrial railroad routes within the subcontinent. Ball also contributed numerous reports on animals, plants, and minerals of India to the Royal Society. In addition, he brought back knowledge of volcanoes of the Bay of Bengal from his travels. This is a record of Ball's camp life and his sojourn in India. A contemporary bookplate and name, a touch of foxing to the pageblock.