A Merchant's Tale: The Life and Adventures of a Nineteenth Century Scottish Trader

Hemming, Jocelyn; Thurley, Nancy (eds)

ISBN 10: 0863036937 / ISBN 13: 9780863036934

Published by Braunton: Merlin Books, 1994

About this Item

Octavo. [xi prelims] 178 pages. Endpaper maps; facsimile letter as a frontispiece; numerous b&w line drawings as section headings and tail-pieces within the text. Foreword by Robin Hanbury-Tenison. Signed by the editors on the title page. The tale of James Macintyre, edited by two of his great-granddaughters, concerning his voyages to the Americas and Australia. Good in Good jacket. Text dull at the edges; fore-edge has a small grubby spot at its top. Jacket is sunned around its spine and has a tanned back and flaps.

Seller Inventory # 1595

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A Merchant's Tale: The Life and Adventures of a Nineteenth Century Scottish Trader
• Publisher: Braunton: Merlin Books
• Publication Date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0863036937
• ISBN 13: 9780863036934
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Good
• Signed: Signed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Signed Books

About this title

Synopsis

A Merchant's Tale gives a fascinating account of the life of a Scottish trader during the first half of the 19th century. Childhood and school-days in Edinburgh during the reign of George III, are followed by challenging years spent seeking a fortune in the Americas and Australia. James Macintyre's tale of sea voyages and land journeys, descriptions of people and places and eye-witness accounts of events surrounding the political and social turmoil of the times is told with wit and perception.

Most of the great travellers of the past wrote and published contemporary accounts which were popular in their lifetimes. James Macintyre's A Merchant's Tale, written originally for his family, is being published exactly two hundred years after his birth and is in many ways the more interesting and valuable for that. The bridge of time, which makes the events he describes strange to us even if the locations are familiar, and the careful editing, which two of his great-grandchildren have meticulously undertaken, together make a fascinating book.

The events of an exciting period of history, when merchant venturers were grasping the opportunities created by the French Revolution, the collapse of Spanish power in the New World and the rapid development of the British colonies, are vividly brought to life by a conscientious and witty observer with an enquiring mind.