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18mo. viii, 178 pp. With a woodcut frontispiece of Prince Lee Boo (loosening and separating, as is the front binder's leaf). Contemporary "Dutch" floral boards (shaken), spine perished and covered with (masking?) tape which is separating, board edges worn, text with usual stains and signs of heavy use. A complete copy in "fair" condition, priced accordingly. RARE IRISH EDITION OF THIS CURIOUS LITTLE CHILDREN'S BOOK OF WHICH APPARENTLY THERE ARE NO COPIES IN IRELAND. The present copy of the "History of Prince Lee Boo" belongs to the third edition overall, following Newbery's common 1789 and [1790] editions. In ours the frontispiece portrait of Prince Lee Boo is a crude copy of Newbery's engraving, and indeed, the entire book seems to be a line-for-line reprint of Newbery's 178-page text. To reduce costs, these Dublin hack publishers eliminated Newbery's engraved title-page and 5 engraved plates. BACKGROUND OF PRINCE LEE BOO: Capt. Henry Wilson was a marine in the service of the English East India Company. "In August 1783, his ship, the Antelope, ran aground and was wrecked on the Pelew Islands [i.e. Palau Islands, Philippines], which until that time had seen no European presence. Wilson and his crew escaped to the shore and were treated well by the natives. The crew then constructed a boat from the wreckage of their ship and in it succeeded in reaching Macao in China. They took with them Prince Lee Boo (or Liby), one of the king's sons, whom Wilson subsequently brought to London." The prince was lionized by London society, who were charmed by his poise and intelligence; he attended church ceremonies, dinner parties and European schools, "but eventually he succumbed to smallpox and died [at the age of 20]. The East India Company then sent out two vessels, the Panther and the Endeavour under Captain John McCluer, to inform the king, Abba Thule, of the bad news and present him with gifts of seeds and plants." (SOURCE: Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration no. W41). ESTC (T138614) locates just five copies worldwide: British Library, McMaster University, UCLA, Stanford, and Monash University (Melbourne). Stupidly, Jisc Library Hub conflates electronic surrogates with the printed edition, and in doing so lists 30 libraries with access to digital copies; of these, only the BL copy is "real." We have been unable to locate a copy in Ireland; certainly it is not in Trinity College Dublin or the National Library of Ireland. Three copies located in auction records (including this one) according to Rare Book Hub, which currently has more than 13 million records in the Rare Book Transactions database: 1. Dominic Winter 7 April 2004, lot 423. Seller Inventory # 4196
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Bibliographic Details
Title: [CHILDREN'S BOOK ABOUT THE PACIFIC ISLANDERS...
Publisher: Printed for J. Rice, No. 5, College-Green, and R. White, No. 20, Dame-Street, Dublin
Publication Date: 1791
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Fair
