Keppel | The Expedition to Borneo, 1846, 2 volumes

BOOKS FROM THE LIBRARY OF THE EARLS OF HADDINGTON, LOTS 54-108

KEPPEL, HENRY

The Expedition to Borneo of H.M.S. Dido for the Suppression of Piracy: with Extracts from the Journal of James Brooke Esq. of Sarawak. London: Chapman and Hall, 1846

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY FROM THE AUTHOR, 2 volumes, 8vo (223 x 138mm.), half title, 16pp. adverts, half-titles, 6 folding engraved maps, 11 lithographed plates, folding table, original blindstamped blue ribbed cloth, some slight spotting, spines faded

"In August 1841 Keppel commissioned the corvette Dido for the China station, where he served with distinction during the latter part of the First Opium War under Sir William Parker. When peace was made in August 1842 Keppel was sent to Singapore as senior officer on that part of the station. There he made friends with Sir James Brooke, with whom he returned to Sarawak. For eighteen months he co-operated with Brooke for the suppression of Borneo piracy, and, after many engagements, the Dido, together with the East India Company's steamship Phlegethon, destroyed the chief stronghold of the pirates, together with some 300 prahus" (ODNB).

LITERATURE:

Hill (2004) 918

PROVENANCE:

Thomas Hamilton (1780–1858), 9th Earl of Haddington, authorial presentation inscription