1913 Colloquies on the Simples & Drugs of India

Description

Illustrated, Leather Binding, Limited Edition, Scarce, Signed Binding

The scarce first edition of this work in English.

Bound by Riviere & Sons.

Limited edition, limited to two hundred and fifty copies, of which this is numbered forty-six. 

Note tipped in to the recto of the front free endpaper, 'To J. E. Gibson, with the sincere regards, & best wishes for the new year of Sir George Birdwood, 1 January 1915'. Birdwood was an official, naturalist, and writer, who was greatly influential in the municipal life of Bombay, and held a long career in the statistic department of the India Office. This volume is dedicated by Markham to Birdwood, and Birdwood is thanked in the introduction. 

Illustrated with twenty-three plates.

Collated, complete.

Orta's 'Colloquies' is an important work on the drugs, spices, and other natural products of India.

The work is in a dialogue format, consisting of fifty-seven conservations between the author and his imaginary colleague, Ruano, as Ruano visits India and wishes to learn more about the country.

'Colloquies' is an incredibly detailed work an essential resource, each drug considered with its identification and names in earlier texts, its source, presence in trade in the 16th century, and its medical and other uses.

Orta also digresses to various other subjects, such as Indian politics, the importance of China, Portuguese and Spanish rivalries in the Spice Islands, and various anecdotes about animals.

This is translated from the 'new edition' of Lisbon in 1895, which was edited and annotated by the Conde de Ficalho.

Translated into English by Sir Clements Markham.