1828 crawfurd (3 Ergebnisse)

Very good. Slight wear on original fold lines. Size 7.5 x 10.5 Inches. A striking early view of Bangkok, Thailand, issued in 1828 shortly following John Crawfurd's diplomatic mission to the royal courts of Siam. The view looks eastward across the Chao Phraya River towards what is today Bangkok's Chinatown. Chinese riverfront shops line the Chao Phraya. Dusit Maha Prasat, King Rama I's (1737 - 1809) great throne hall, built in 1789, rising in the background. A large Chinese junk occupies the foreground. Crawfurd on Bangkok When Crawfurd arrived Bangkok it was not yet an exceptionally large city, but nonetheless had been made capitol of Siam in 1782 by Rama I. The larger population center and old capital was further north at Ayutthaya. Crawfurd dedicates significant attention to the city, Bangkok extends along the banks of the Manam, to the distance of about two miles and a half; but it is of no great breadth, probably not exceeding one mile and a half. The principal portion of the town is on the left bank of the river, where the palace is situated. The accounts which we received of it population were very vague and little to be relied on. Some of them made it amount to as much as one hundred and fifty thousand. Judging by the extent of ground on which it stands, I should not be disposed to estimate the inhabitants at more than one-third of this number. Census and Publication History The map view drawn by the mysterious H.A.C. in late 1822 or early 1823, but was not printed until John Crawfurd included it in the 1828 publication of his Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the courts of Siam and Cochin-China: exhibiting a view of the actual state of those kingdoms. . It was engraved in London by John Heaviside Clark and was published by Henry Colburn. The view was included in all editions of Crawfurd's work, but is rarely found separately and is scarce to the market. References: Andaya, B. W., and Andaya, L. Y., A History of Early Modern Southeast Asia, 1400 - 1830, page, 322, fig. 7.4.

Good. Slight wear on original fold lines. Margin spotting. Size 8 x 20 Inches. The first printed view of Singapore, issued less than ten years after it was founded by Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles (1781 - 1826). This aquatint view was published in 1828 after a painting by Royal Navy Captain Robert James Elliot. It looks on Singapore from Government Hill, covering the Plain, Singapore River, and Chinatown. Even at this early stage, the view presents a bustling city with numerous buildings and a lively port. We have not been able to trace Elliot's original painting. Publication History and Census The view was drawn in late 1822 or early 1823, but was not printed until John Crawfurd included it in the 1828 publication of his Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the courts of Siam and Cochin-China: exhibiting a view of the actual state of those kingdoms . It was engraved in London by John Heaviside Clark and was published by Henry Colburn. The view was included in all editions of Crawfurd's work but is rarely found separately and is scarce to the market. The OCLC cites three separate examples at the British Library, the National Library Board of Singapore, and the Bibliothèque nationale de France. References: Liu, Gretchen, Singapore: A Pictorial History, 1819 - 2000, (Didier Millet), page 26, fig. 2. OCLC 1017484137.

Good. Some wear along old fold lines. Repaired and reinforced split along bottom horizontal fold. Some discoloration and repair where originally tabbed into volume, at center. Laid down on archival tissue. Size 37 x 25 Inches. This rare large-format 1828 map of Southeast Asia, compiled by John Walker to illustrate John Crawfurd's mission to Siam (Thailand), is the first accurate survey of the coasts of Siam. Coverage extends from China to Singapore and from the Gulf of Martaban (Burma) to Vietnam and Hainan. Siam at the time was inaccessible to European merchants and even diplomats, with its coasts and interior largely unknown. This map is an amalgam of European sources, but with regard to Siam, it was derived primarily from secretly acquired early 19th-century Siamese surveys previously unknown to Europeans and, for all intents and purposes, still lost. Historical Context Following the resurgence of the Kingdom of Siam after the Burmese-Siamese War (1765 - 1767), Siam emerged as a major political power and the central state in Southeast Asia. The regional destabilization following Siamese victory led to a power vacuum in Burma, which precipitated a series of further conflicts, both between Siam and Burma and between Burma and Great Britain, lasting well into the early 19th century. The British took advantage of the weak Burmese military to seize additional territory in Assam, Manipur, and Arakan during the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824 - 1826). At the same time, Siam continued to grind away at both Burmese territory to the west and parts of Laos and Cambodia to the east, stopped only by Vietnamese and French forces in Indochina. To the south, Britain exerted a strong influence over the Malay States, leaving only Siam as a fully independent and powerful Southeast Asian state resistant to European influence. The Crawfurd Mission The Scottish linguist, diplomat, doctor, and colonial administrator John Crawfurd (1783 - 1868) was sent to the Kingdom of Siam by the Governor-General of India, Lord Francis Edward Rawdon-Hastings (1754 - 1826). Hastings was interested in evaluating the growing power of Siam, acquiring a reliable reconnaissance of Siamese lands, establishing trade relations, and understanding Siamese policy with regard to both the Malay States to the south (particularly Penang, to which the British had laid claim) and to French attempts to establish a colonial presence in Vietnam. While the mission failed to establish trade relations, evaluate Siamese political positions regarding Penang, or explore the interior, Crawfurd did collect cartographic materials detailing the coast, much of which John Walker compiled into this map. The 'Mohammedan Mariner' In the appendix to Crawfurd's Journal of an Embassy from the Governor-General of India to the Courts of Siam and Cochin-China , he lists the sources of this remarkable map. Many are new surveys conducted en route , earlier British surveys of the Malay States and Bengal, and French sources for Indochina, but the bulk of the map as it relates to Siam is based upon cartography passed clandestinely to Crawfurd by a Siamese Muslim navigator. To quote Crawfurd, From the Cape of Patani to the point of Kwiis taken from a Mohammedan mariner, a native of Siam, possessed of considerable intelligence-who was acquainted with the use of maps and the quarterstaff, and could even take an altitude of the sun with our quadrants. he goes on to describe how this same mariner, in fear of his life, divulged less and less information the closer the came to Siam, .a great deal of useful information . as we approached Siam they became much more shy and reserved, and now communicated nothing without a strict injunction to secrecy. They constantly resisted our solicitations to assist in translating the Governor-general's letter into Siamese, observing that the communication of his Majesty's titles would be considered as the divulgement of a state secret, which might cost them their lives. The comman.