A Directory for the Navigation of the Indian Ocean [.]. Second Edition. With Descriptions of its Coasts, Islands, etc., from the Cape of Good Hope to the Strait of Sunda and Western Australia, including also the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf; the Winds, Monsoons, and Currents, and the Passages from Europe to its various Ports.

Large 8vo (170 x 255 mm). (2), VI, (2), VII-XXXVI, 639, 639a-h, 640-1110, (2) pp. With 15 (mostly folding) maps (many in colour) and numerous text illustrations. Contemporary giltstamped cloth. Second, enlarged edition of this standard work, first published in 1866. An encyclopedic volume of over 1000 pages with a detailed index. The chapters include descriptions of the coasts and islands of the Cape Colony; coast of Kaffraria and Natal; Eastern Africa; Madagascar and the Mozambique Channel; the coast of Africa, between Cape Delgado and the Red Sea; the Red Sea, etc. - In particular, Findlay devotes much attention to the coasts of Arabia and onwards to the Arabian Gulf, providing rich detail about the port of Aden, navigating and anchoring around Ras Arah and Ghubbet Seylan, the population of Masirah Island, the climate of the Gulf and its threats to Western health, topography of the coastal settlements, information on the reefs and pearl banks, etc. The discussion of the Gulf ("Our acquaintance with the hydrography of the Persian Gulf is nearly perfect") includes intelligence on Sharjah ("Shargeh"), "the most important town on the coast", numbering 8,000 to 10,000 inhabitants, and on Dubai ("Debay"), "a large town of 5,000 or 6,000 inhabitants" standing "a little back from the shore" and "recognizable as being the last town on the coast, there being not a single date-tree or house from this all the way to Abu Thabi". The coast is described as "quite barren and uninhabited, throughout very low, with tufts of mangrove bush", and "so uniform in appearance that the smallest peculiarities are noted by the Arabs, and names given to them". Abu Dhabi ("Abothubbee") is noted as "the most populous town on the coast", containing "about 20,0000 inhabitants" and sending "600 boats to the pearl fishery. The chief is very friendly to the English. Cattle might be obtained here". - Binding rubbed; hinges split. Some foxing throughout as common; repeatedly annotated quite ungraciously by a 20th century hand in coloured ballpoint and broad felt-tip pen. A later edition (from Humphrey Winterton's library) commanded £720 at Sotheby's in 2003. - Mill (Cat. of the RGS Library) 160. OCLC 217065553.…