[Rarebooks] fa: [WAR OF 1812] - "WAR IN DISGUISE" - Ex-libris LORD MELVILLE, FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Ending tonight, to be found along with several other 18th-19th century  
British titles, at the URL below or by seraching under the seller  
name. (And despite eBay's strictures, I happily accept payment methods  
other than Paypal.)

http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/arch_in_la

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

A remarkable association copy of this defense of the controversial  
British naval policy which led to the War of 1812 — from the library  
of Britain's First Lord of the Admiralty during the war:

[James Stephen:] War in Disguise; or, The Frauds of the Neutral Flags.  
London: Printed for J. Hatchard and J. Butterworth, 1807. Fifth  
edition. Softcover 8vo (23 x 14.5cm) in original wraps, rebacked,  
printed spine title; [2], xxiv, 124, 129-224, [221]-252p. Howes S 397.

A defense of Britain's right to board and search putatively neutral  
American vessels written by James Stephen (1758–1832), "a crusty and  
argumentative British Admiralty lawyer [and, incidentally, the great- 
grandfather of Virginia Woolf] ... who hated Napoleon and Jefferson in  
equal measure... Do not, Stephen warned, allow American neutral ships  
to continue trading freely with France; such trade 'sustains the  
ambitions of France and prolongs the miseries of  
Europe'" (Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy). Stephen's jeremiad  
proved immensely popular in England, prompting the tightening of  
regulations on neutral shipping which led eventually to the War of  
1812. An important work in the history of maritime law, "few political  
tracts have had greater direct influence" (Larned).

With the ownership signature and engraved armorial bookplate of ROBERT  
DUNDAS, 2ND VISCOUNT MELVILLE, First Lord of the Admiralty from 1812  
to 1827, and again from 1828-1830. In 1807, when he presumably signed  
the title-page, Dundas was merely the "Rt. Hon'ble", a Member of  
Parliament. He succeeded to his father's title of Viscount Melville in  
1811. Responsible for overseeing the naval war against France and the  
United States, Dundas (1771-1851) was also keenly interested in Arctic  
exploration (Melville Sound and Melville Island in Canada are named  
after him).  As First Lord, Dundas features as a background character  
in several of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels.