Markham, Albert Hastings

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (221 x 139mm.), xiv, [ii], 304pp., 32pp. adverts, folding map, 8 plates, illustrations, original pictorial blue cloth, gilt, dark brown endpapers, bevelled edges, slipcase

R.J. Alexander, Portglenone, Northern Ireland, ownership inscription

Ferguson 12259; not in Hill

A relative and close friend of the geographer and explorer Sir Clements Markham, Sir Albert Hastings Markham was born in Bagnères-de-Bigorre, France in 1841. Eleven years his junior, Albert held great admiration for his older cousin, who he reputedly considered the strongest influence on his life. He followed Clements into the navy in 1856, and embarked upon numerous postings across the world, serving in China, the Mediterranean, Australia, the Arctic and Canada. He retired from the navy in 1906 after being appointed Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria and being awarded the KCB in 1903.

His efforts to supress ‘blackbirding’, the quasi-slave trade from the South Seas to Australia, are detailed in the present title.