TRACTS, HISTORICAL and STATISTICAL, ON INDIA: With Journals of Several Tours Through Various Parts of the Peninsula: also an Account Of SUMATRA, In A Series Of Letters

Small quarto (10 5/8 by 8 3/4 inches) London: Printed For Robert Baldwin, . . . and Black Parry, And Co. Booksellers To The Hon. East India Company, 1814. First Edition. xi [1] 462 pages, + 1 leaf of publisher's advertisements.

Engraved frontispiece and four engraved plates (the one of diamonds is hand colored), 2 large folding maps hand colored in outline (one of Mysore and the other of The Circars).

Statistical tables: "different soils with their productions," "List of . . . Produce . . . of the different Kinds of Grain, and of its Time of Sowing and Reaping," "Fruits and Seeds of Trees and Plants used in Curries," "Coins, Weights, and Measures."

There is also an "Account of the Diamond Mines in India," and "On the Propagation of the Christian Religion in India, and on the Moral Character of the Hindoos."

Four appendices: Appendix A. "Analysis of a New Species of Copper" by Thomas Tomson, M.D.; Appendix B. "Tables of the Thermometer and Barometer, as Observed in Different Parts of the Peninsula of Hindostan;" Appendix C. "Route From Quddapa to Hydrabad, With Distances in English Miles; Appendix D. "Route From Bengalore To Trichonopoly By Ryacotta."

Original marbled boards, re-backed in leather, with title in gilt on a red label, leather corners.

Very good condition (there is a small blemish to the leather, near the bottom of the spine, not affecting contents).

The author was a Scottish surgeon, naturalist and botanist, and a member of several important Learned Societies.

Among his 24 Tracts are subjects about the diamond mines of India, the translation of some Indian books, the method of smelting iron, thoughts on the British Government in India, and methods of making steel.

In his ten "Letters on Sumatra," he covers soil, water, agriculture, weather and climate, in addition to a discussion of "Remarkable Places."