Observations On The Passage to India Through Egypt, and across the Great Desert With Occasional Remarks on the adjacent Countries, and also Sketches of the different Routes
London: W. Faden, 1783. First edition. Hardcover. [XX] 110 pages. 27.5 x 22.5 cm. 2 folding engraved maps of Egypt and Syria/Iraq. This work by Capper is in two parts; one describing the route from India by way of the Red Sea, Suez and Egypt, the other from England by way of Aleppo and Mesopotamia and down through the Persian Gulf to Muscat. Provenance: Capper, the East India Company's commissary-general on the coast of Coromandel, was sent home with dispatches in 1777, traveling via Ceylon and Suez. When he arrived in England, he was asked "to explore the feasibility of opening a new channel for transmitting intelligence between Europe and India" (ODNB). BLACKKMER 282. Sir Clive Milnes Coates (1879-1971) ownership inscription on free front endpaper, embossed monogram book label, gilt monogram to lower cover; with the London bookseller Stanley Crowe (pencil note on free front endpaper). Binding lightly rubbed. Untrimmed in modern cloth-backed boards, red leather spine label printed in gilt. Very good. Item #22176
Price: $950.00