Salvin, Hugh

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (189 x 114mm.), [vi], 246pp., hand-coloured engraved frontispiece, original red calico, paper label, folding morocco-backed case, binding a bit faded

Borba de Moraes, p.764; Hill (2004) 1521; Sabin 74614

The Cambridge, one of the largest ships-of-the-line, had been sent from England in 1823 to convey the first British consuls to the east and west coasts of South America. Her size is indicative of the importance the British government then placed on Latin American affairs, and she seems to have been the first ship-of-the-line since Anson's Centurian to enter the Pacific. Her duties took her to Rio, Montevideo, Callao, Lima, Chorillos, Huacho, Santiago, and Coquimbo. This is the only printed account of this highly important mission to the struggling emergent states of South America. It ends with a eulogy to Bolivar whom Salvin met when he dined on board the Cambridge.