Burns, Dr John James Douglas.

describing, after a summary of his early life, his adventures as a naval surgeon, including his first tour on HMS Harrier in 1835 spent in Rio de Janeiro and elsewhere in South America, an extended tour in the Mediterranean on HMS Griffon from 1837-41, with detailed account of a sojourn in Constantinople and of action in Syria during the Egyptian-Ottoman War, and a tour on the African station on HM Sloop Sappho disrupting the slave trade, concluding with a summary of his later career to his retirement in 1885, written on a series of 55 loose sheets, chiefly bifolia, folio (chiefly 320 x 200mm., various paper stocks, some watermarked 1876), chiefly written on rectos only and paginated to p.99, but with some unpaginated additions on facing rectos, in total c.115 pages, plus blanks, dated 1893 (p.5), light creasing and nicks at edges

[with:] Memorandum Book, London: J. & F. Harwood, n.d., with regular brief diary entries by Dr Burns chiefly from 1835 to 1838 but with a few later entries, 8vo, green roan

Condition is described in the main body of the catalogue, where appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

A LIVELY AND DETAILED RECORD OF ADVENTURES IN THREE CONTINENTS. John Burns (1815-1894) was a Scottish surgeon who spent his career in naval service, beginning with a journey to Brazil and the River Plate on HMS Harrier in 1835. He records in detail his impressions such locations as Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, describes slavery (including slave markets), sugar manufacture, political disturbances in Montevideo ("...the inhabitants all wore a red ribbon at the button hole to distinguish the faction of Rosas ... the color of the opposite faction was blue, but dare not show a color...") and the execution of Indian insurgents. He later transferred to the Griffon and spent several years in the Mediterranean. He gives a lively account of his experiences in Constantinople from his first experience of a Turkish Bath ("...you are taken, when undressed into 3 Chambers, each more heated than the other , till you can scarcely breathe the atmosphere the perspiration flows freely when an attendant rubs the body down with a hair glove...") to a nocturnal adventure in Pera that began "when we were overtaken by a half drunken Irishman". He visits Tunisia when the ship assisted in the recovery following the wreck of HMS Rapid in April 1838, but this period of his career was dominated by the carnage in the eastern Mediterranean caused by the Ottoman-Egyptian War. The British supported the Ottomans, and Burns saw action in the bombardment, capture, and subsequent unrest in Beirut in August-September 1840 ("...there was a serious fight in shore between the Maronites and the Albanian troops in which the latter were slaughtered, and one night we were surprised by the sound of a terrific explosion when we saw the Castle of Tripoli blown up.."), and also in the similar bombardment of Acre, when Burns was an eyewitness to the terrible suffering of the civilian population ("...in the hospital great numbers had been killed in their beds..."). From 1842 to 1846 Burns was on the Sloop Sappho off the African coast. Their principal mission was the suppression of the slave trade, and he describes, for instance, the capture of a ship with a cargo of "jewelry, trinkets, beads", typically used to buy slaves, under which was found a hidden slave deck (20 September 1843). He also found time to explore the Southern African veld ("...The country here is excessively wild: not a human being to be seen, but everywhere the tracks of Zebra and leopards...").