BARROW, George. Ceylon: Past and Present. London, John Murray, 1857.
8vo. Original maroon cloth, lettered and illustrated in gilt; pp. vii, 196, 32 (publisher's catalogue, dated September 1856), lithographic folding map on thin paper; light rubbing and marking to binding; contemporary ownership inscription to front fly-leaf; internally very good.
Very uncommon first edition. 'My first object in undertaking this little work was to give some notion of the curious and interesting narrative of "Robert Knox's" captivity in Ceylon from the year 1659 till his escape in 1679 and his descriptions of the country … ' (Preface). Barrow fact-checks and annotates sections of the original 17th century narrative and then moves on to describing the prospering island in the mid-19th-century.
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