HALL, Basil (1788-1844). Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea, and the Great Loo-Choo Island; with an Appendix. London: John Murray, 1818.
4to (267 x 210 mm). 8 aquatint plates with hand coloring by William Havell, one uncolored aquatint, 5 engraved maps (2 folding), one engraved plate. (Some minor offsetting). Contemporary calf, covers with a large gilt border of alternating tools, all edges gilt (rebacked, preserving original gilt spine). Provenance: Amelia Stewart, Viscountess Castlereagh (1772-1829), wife of Robert Stewart, Britain's leading diplomat during the close of the Napoleonic Wars (presentation inscription from the author).
FIRST EDITION, INSCRIBED BY HALL on the front free endpaper. Basil Hall entered the British navy in 1801, and in 1815 "was appointed to the Lyra and ordered to China where, in consort with the Alceste, he accompanied Lord Amherst's embassy to China" (Howgego). The expedition "explored the relatively little-known East China Sea and the Yellow Sea. Visits were made to Korea and the Ryukyu Archipelago. Korea had been sketchily explored by the Europeans, but it was not until the Alceste and Lyra expedition in 1816-17, under Captains Murray Maxwell and Basil Hall, that detailed information was obtained about the Ryukyus" (Hill). According to Abbey, Hall's work was met with enthusiasm by the Edinburgh Review: "We do not know when we have met with a more pleasing work than this delightful account of the people of Loo-Choo... [It] makes us proud of our country, and puts us in good humour with our species." Abbey Travel, 558; Cordier Sinica 3009.
