FRAGMENTS OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS — By CAPTAIN BASIL HALL, 1856 — 19th-Century British English Explorer, Royal Navy, South America, Asia Pacific Exploration, Astronomer, Scientist — Very Scarce Publisher: Edward Moxton, London (1856)
In very well preserved condition. Fine binding; full calf boards with raised bands on spine. Marbled fore-edges. The boards and binding are solid and tight save for light rubbing and shelfwear and nick on the leather of the back board. The pages are crisp and clean save for a few spots of foxing. The book is a journal of Captain Hall's exploration and adventures. Includes fold-out table of officers. Please see the biography below for more details.
Biography
Basil Hall, FRS (31 December 1788 – 11 September 1844) was a British naval officer from Scotland, a traveller, and an author. He was the second son of Sir James Hall, 4th Baronet, an eminent man of science. Hall commanded many vessels involved in exploration and
scientific and diplomatic missions. While serving aboard HMS Endymion, Hall
witnessed Sir John Moore being carried dying from the Battle of Corunna. It was
also aboard the Endymion that Hall met William Howe De Lancey, who later
married Hall's sister Magdalene. De Lancey was struck by a cannonball at the
Battle of Waterloo, and it was for her brother that Magdalene wrote A Week at
Waterloo in 1815, a poignant narrative describing how she nursed him in his
final days.
Basil Hall landing on Rockall in 1811
In 1810 he voyaged to Rockall aboard the Endymion and in
1811 was part of the first landing party there. His hazardous exploits in
returning with this party were described in Fragments of Voyages and Travels.
Hall explored Java in 1813 and as a part of a diplomatic
mission to China under Lord Amherst in 1816 undertook surveys of the west coast
of Korea and the outlying Ryukyu Islands of Japan. In 1817 he also took the
opportunity to interview Napoleon (who had been an acquaintance of his father)
on St. Helena.
From the beginning of his naval career he had been
encouraged by his father to keep a journal, which later became the source for a
series of books and publications describing his travels which culminated into his most famous work The Fragments of Voyages and Travels. These included Account
of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-Choo
Island in the Japan Sea (1818), which was one of the first descriptions of
Korea by a European, and Extracts from a Journal Written on the Coasts of
Chile, Peru and Mexico (1823).
In 1826, when Sir Walter Scott was sunk in depression
following his wife's death and financial ruin, it was Hall who organised a trip
to Naples for Scott, managing to persuade the government to place a ship at his
disposal. In 1828 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an
Honorary Academician.
In 1829 Hall published Travels in North America, which
caused some offence due to his criticisms of American society. He also
contributed to the Encyclopedia Britannica and wrote scientific papers on
subjects as varied as trade winds, the geology of Table Mountain and a comet he
observed in Chile. -Wikipedia
