[Rarebooks] fa: THREE VISITS TO MADAGASCAR 1853-1856 - REV. WILLIAM ELLIS - 1st Ed.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, along with other 17th, 18th & 19th-Century English titles,  
auctions ending Sunday, October 2. More details and images can be  
found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/arch_in_la/m.html?_trksid=p4340.l2562

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


The Rev. William Ellis: Three Visits to Madagascar During the Years  
1853-1854-1856. Including a Journey to the Capital; with Notices of  
the Natural History of the Country and of the Present Civilization of  
the People. London: John Murray, 1858. FIRST EDITION. Modern marbled  
boards, cloth spine, gilt-lettered morocco spine label, marbled page  
edges; 470 pp.; with the half-title, folding frontispiece, map, plates  
and in-text woodcuts.

Light age-toning to the leaves as usual, small nick and browning to  
the fore-edge of the title-page, two repaired tears to the folds of  
the frontispiece, a few occasional small spots to the text, otherwise  
Fine: clean and firm in a bright, fresh, appealing modern binding.  
With a full-page map, 15 full-page plates, including a folding view of  
Antananarivo, and numerous in-text woodcut illustrations. A handsome  
copy.

William Ellis was dispatched to Madagascar by the London Missionary  
Society in order to investigate reports of the mistreatment of  
Christians there. While his findings were inconclusive, his travels  
resulted in the first widely-read account of the island in English, a   
vivid depiction of its topography, society, customs and religion. The  
work includes a description of a visit to the Colony of the Cape of  
Good Hope. Ellis (1794-1872) is also remembered for his travels in  
Polynesia and the Sandwich Islands, and for establishing the first  
printing press in the South Pacific.