London, etc.: T. Nelson and Sons, 1861. First edition. 12mo. (iii), 422, (1) pp. Illustrated with engraved title page, frontispiece, and five full-page black and white plates. Publisher's purple cloth, stamped in blind and in gilt, front gutter starting, rear gutter split, spine and covers unevenly faded, endcaps and tips very worn, cocked; scattered foxing and staining to text and plates; two ownership signatures to front blank; gutter at title-page stained. Quayle 26a

Rare first edition of Robert M. Ballantyne's sequel to his hugely successful adventure novel The Coral Island.

"...few copies of the first edition appear to have survived, and to find one in the original cloth binding is a rare occurrence. This may well be a measure of the popularity of the tale, the book having been 'read to death' in the first few years of its existence to be finally consigned to the dustbin, dog-eared and tattered." (Quayle)