Tom Cringle's Log

Edinburgh: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd, 1845. "New Edition", published by Blackwoods in 1845. No dustwrapper, black cloth-covered boards have blind-stamped decoration. Quite a lot of wear to edges of boards, no titles left on black cloth spine; outer pages have been torn out, the first page remaining is the half-title. A later owner's name and date (1882) on title page, some old brown ink scribbles to title page and to Prefactory Notice page. Binding starting to come loose at pp528-529 and more so inside back cover, some pages are a bit grubby, last (blank) page has the top corner torn away. Print is a bit small, the 5p coin in the pictures should give an idea of the size, but otherwise a not terribly bad copy of this hard-cover novel. Originally published in serial form in Backwoods Magazine in the 1830s, the story deals with the adventures, afloat and ashore, of a young Midshipman (the Tom Cringle of the title) in the West Indies, (mostly Jamaica) in the early 1800s. The author lived in Jamaica between 1807 and 1817, so had first-hand experience of life out there, at least as a well-off White man. 542pp.. Hard Cover. Fair/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.