Beskrifning öfver en äfventyrlig resa til och ifrån Ost-Indien, Södra America, och en del af Europa, åren 1755, 56, och 57.

BRELIN, JOHAN.

Publication Date: 1758

About this Item

Uppsala, Kongl. acad. tryckeriet, 1758. 8:o. (12),144,(5) pp. Reproductions of Chinese characters on pp. 48-49. Sewn as issued in contemporary stiff blue paste paper wrappers with somewhat later handwritten label. Spine worn, joints heavily worn and with superficial cracks. Foxing in parts, mainly in the margins and more so on the dedication leaves. Erased ink signature and pencilled date "8 sept 1842" on front pastedown. Johan Brelin (1734-82) departed for China in January 1755 with the Swedish East India Company's ship Sophia Albertina, under the command of Captain Carl Gustav Lehman. The return trip from China became long and complicated. Brelin got lost, broke his ankle and was left astern on the Island of Ascension in the Indian Ocean. He feared "a death which with good reason can be called the hardest", but was saved in the last minute by a French ship. With a broken mast they sailed to Brazil and then to Portugal, where Brelin for a short while was suspected of espionage. Penniless, he spent a winter in Amsterdam before returning to Sweden in April 1757. In Stockholm Brelin found that he "already had been wept for as deceased" and that his family still wore mourning for his sake. His adventurous account is characterized by a cheerful temperament and an open disposition. A facsimile edition was published in 1973.

Seller Inventory # 41917B

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Beskrifning öfver en äfventyrlig resa til och ifrån Ost-Indien, Södra America, och en del af Europa, åren 1755, 56, och 57.
• Publication Date: 1758
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Good