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2 volumes. First Edition with the handcoloured decorations. Second and Best Edition overall with additions not found in the one volume first edition and with the handcoloured plates, charts and plans not found in the first edition. With the 8 finely coloured aquatint plates by S. Daniell in Vol. I and with 9 folding charts and plans including the large folding map and 8 other maps and charts of which three are handcoloured, in Vol. II. 4to, bound in handsome three-quarter dark calf over marbled boards in contemporary style, the spines with raised bands gilt ruled, numbered in gilt in two compartments and with red morocco labels lettered in gilt. xvi, 427; (4), 372 (2, directions for placing the plates), (2 ads) pp. A very handsome copy, the text-block and plates in very nice condition. A few folds supported, the aquatint handcoloured plates all very nicely preserved. A clean and pleasing copy. A VERY HANDSOME COPY OF THE SECOND AND BEST EDITION OF THIS IMPORTANT WORK. HANDCOLOURED AQUATINT PLATES BY S. DANIELL AND HANDCOLOURED MAPS AND CHARTS ARE PRESENT IN THIS EDITION FOR THE FIRST TIME. "Sir John Barrow, 1st Baronet, FRS , FRGS , LL.D was an English statesman who, through the interest of Sir George Leonard Staunton, to whose son he taught mathematics, was attached on the first British embassy to China from 1792-94 as comptroller of the household to Lord Macartney. He soon acquired a good knowledge of the Chinese language, on which he subsequently contributed interesting articles to the Quarterly Review; and the account of the embassy published by Sir George Staunton records many of Barrow's valuable contributions to literature and science connected with China. Although Barrow ceased to be officially connected with Chinese affairs after the return of the embassy in 1794, he always took much interest in them, and on critical occasions was frequently consulted by the British government. In 1797 he accompanied Lord Macartney, as private secretary, in his important and delicate mission to settle the government of the newly acquired colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was entrusted with the task of reconciling the Boers and "Kaffirs" and of reporting on the country in the interior. On his return from his journey, in the course of which he visited all parts of the colony, he was appointed auditor-general of public accounts. He decided to settle in South Africa, married Anne Maria Trüter, and in 1800 bought a house in Cape Town. But the surrender of the colony at the peace of Amiens (1802) upset this plan. His writings on his travels and studies in southern Africa are the subject matter of the book here offered. And it is one of the great early works on South Africa. He returned to England in 1804, was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty by Viscount Melville, a post which he held for nearly forty years. He enjoyed the esteem and confidence of all the eleven chief lords who successively presided at the Admiralty board during that period, and more especially of King William IV while lord high admiral, who honoured him with tokens of his personal regard. In his position at the Admiralty, Barrow was a great promoter of Arctic voyages of discovery, including those of John Ross, William Edward Parry, James Clark Ross, and John Franklin. Point Barrow in Alaska is named for him. He is reputed to have been the initial proposer of St Helena as the new place of exile for Napoleon Bonaparte following the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Barrow was a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1821 received the degree of LL.D from the University of Edinburgh. A baronetcy was conferred on him by Sir Robert Peel in 1835. He retired from public life in 1845 and devoted himself to writing a history of the modern Arctic voyages of discovery (1846), as well as his autobiography, published in 1847. Besides the numerous articles in the Quarterly Review already mentioned, Barrow published among other works: A Voyage in Cochinchina (1806), Travels in Chin.
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