An Account of the Kingdom of Nepaul [sic]. Being the Substance of Observations made during a Mission to that Country, in the year 1793

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London, William Miller, 1811 [first edition]. Quarto, [ii] (title page, verso blank), xx, 386, [2] (index), [4] (publisher's catalogue) pages with a title page vignette plus 14 full-page plates (including one hand-coloured bird plate) and a large folding map. Early gilt-decorated half calf and marbled papered boards with matching marbled endpapers; leather rubbed at the extremities and a little worn at the head of the rear hinge and at the corners (with minor loss to the corner pieces on the rear cover); hinges expertly (and invisibly) reinforced where starting to split at the head and foot; marbled paper on the boards rubbed, with some sections of the surface peeled away without exposing the boards; title page and the last page (of the publisher's catalogue) a little dusty, marked, foxed and lightly creased (all a little more heavily at the rear); map a little offset, with one very short tear near the stub expertly closed; most plates foxed (three, including the colour one, are not foxed; seven have very light foxing to the edges only; three are heavily foxed basically around the edges, and one is foxed throughout); a very good copy. 'No Englishman had hitherto passed beyond the range of lofty mountains which separates the secluded valley of Nepaul from the north-eastern parts of Bengal' when the author spent seven weeks in the country (13 February to 3 April 1793) on a diplomatic mission to mediate in a military dispute between Nepal and China. The official papers and letters relating to that aspect of the mission are relegated to an appendix; the bulk of the work is an account of the country and its people. This copy was purchased at the dispersal sale of the Hope family's historic property 'Wolta Wolta' at Clare in South Australia. Seller Inventory # 77263

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