An historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India; and the progress of trade with that country prior to the discovery of the passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope.
London: A. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1791. First edition, 4to, pp. xii, 364, [12]; 2 large engraved folding maps; recent quarter brown calf over marbled boards, red morocco label on spine; fore margin of one map miscreased. This copy with the ownership signature on the half-title of "C. Wm. Admiral Duff." Encouraged by his friend, Edward Gibbon, Robertson, the leading Scottish historian of his day, undertook this history of ancient India. He concludes with the hope that this account of "the early and high civilization of India, and the wonderful progress of its inhabitants in elegant arts and useful science, may have some influence upon the behavior of Europeans towards that people" (DNB). Kress B.2182. Item #29373
Price: $1,250.00
