Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island;

with an Appendix, containing Charts, and various Hydrographical and Scientific Notices. First edition. 5 charts and 8 coloured aquatint plates and 2 other plates. 4to. Contemporary half calf, light browning to frontispiece, title a bit dust-stained, overall still a very good copy. Tipped-in signature of Thomas Phillips on front pastedown. xvi, 222, cxxx, [71]pp. London, John Murray,

This expedition took Lord Amherst's embassy out to China, and then proceeded to explore the then little known Eastern Seas of China, Korea, and Japan (the Ryukyu islands, i.e. Okinawa). The substantial appendices, include charts, tables of observations, a meteorological journal, an abstract of the Lyra's voyage, a geological memorandum, and a glossary and vocabulary of English & Ryukyu words.

Capt. Basil Hall (1788-1844) was a British naval officer who was born in Scotland. The present is one of the first eye-witness accounts by a European. He describes his first meeting with a Korean: "We saw a fine patriarchal figure seated under the umbrella; his full white beard covered his breast, and reached below his middle; his robe or mantle, which was of blue silk, and of an immense size, flowed about him in a magnificent style." The appendix includes a short list of Korean words. 

 

 

Stock Code: 224901