The English acquisitions in Guinea and East-India, containing, first, the several forts and castles of the Royal African Company, from sally in South Barbary, to the cape of Good-Hope, in Africa, viz. James Fort, in the river of Gumbo. Sherbrow, in York Island. Serra Leona, in Bence Island. Duckeys Cove. Commenda. Cape Coast Castle. Fort Royal. Anamabo. Winnebab. Acra. Secondly, the forts and factories of the Honourable East-India Company in Persia, India, Sumatra, China, &c. viz. Spawhawa and Gambreon, in Persia Fort St. George. Fort St. David. Conimeere. Cuduloor. Porte Novo. Medapollam. Mereldapatam. Pettipole The coast of coromnadel, carwar. Callicus, Surrat, Bombay Island. Ballasore. Hugly. Chuttanetti. Daca. Rhajama, on the Co. of Mallabar Ascheen, and York Fort, in Somatra. Amoy, Canon, and Tomqueen, in China, &c. With an account of the inhabitants of all these countries; their religion, government, trade, marriages, funerals, strange customs, &c. Also, birds, beasts, serpents, monsters, and other stra by Robert Burton [= Nathaniel Crouch (1632-1725] - 1728.

Fourth and last edition of an exceedingly rare description of all the English colonial possessions in Africa and Asia, that were controlled by the Royal Africa Company and the East India Company. The present copy complete with all the 5 often lacking full-page woodcut illustrations. The work was first published in 1686 as A View of the English Acquistions. The book was meant for a popular audience and helped to convey information about the slave trade to the English. Copies were relatively badly preserved, resulting in great scarcity of complete copies. Nathaniel Crouch (1632-1725) was the author and publisher of many pocket-sized informational and sensational books for a popular audience, written in simple English and sold for one shilling. He mostly used the pseudonym of Robert Burton (abbreviated R.B.). After his death in 1725, Crouch's works continued to sell well for the remainder of the century. English Acquisitions in Guinea and East-India starts with a description and history of the trade between the people of Guinea with the English, Portuguese, Dutch and Flemish, with particular reference to the slave and gold trade. Crouch displays an overview of the customs, religions, wildlife, trade patterns, and marriages of the natives near each English fort or settlement, which he calls "factories". He conveys some degree of disdain for the natives, questioning the viability of their religion, calling them treacherous, and describing their feeding habits like those of swine. Crouch declares that the people of Guinea "are handsome and well proportioned, having nothing disagreeable in their countenances, but the blackness of their complexion." In describing the natives around James Fort, Crouch claims that they "are envious, curiously neat, thieves." Where the indigenous wildlife is concerned, Crouch falls victim to legends and fantasy, referring to scaly dragons and two-headed serpents. He follows all the forts along the coast of Africa and sporadically interrupts this narrative with a short story, such as: The captivity and deliverance of John Watts an Englishman, from slavery under the King of the Buckamores, and the King of Calanach, near Old Mallabar in Guinea. Further on he includes a fanciful account of a voyage to the moon, titled: A view of St. Helena, an island in the Ethiopian Ocean, in Africa, now in possession of the Honourable East-India Company, where in ships usually refresh in their India voyages. With an account of the admirable voyage of Domingo Gonsales, the little Spaniard, to the world in the Moon, by the help of several gansa's or large geese. An ingenious fancy, written by a late learned bishop. At the end of the African part he adds a descriprion of the Canary Island of Tenerife: A journey of several English merchants from Oratava in Teneriff, one of the Canary Islands on the coast of Africa, to the top of the Pike in that island, with the observations they made there. The Asian part commences with a lengthy description of Persia, focusing mainly is Isfahan and providing a long chapter on the Islamic religion. He calls the government of Persia "purely Tyranical". Another detailed description follows of Gambroon, the English factory on Ormuz, and a detailed part on the individual islands in the Persian Gulf. Next follow all the forts at both coasts of India, including a description of the Mughal empire. To this two stories are added: The history of Savagi the Indian rebel, and: The travels of Thomas Croyat. Lastly follow descriptions of the "factories" in Sumatra and China.

Condition: The text has a fair amount of worm damage. First 4 pp. slightly browned. Owner's ink stamp on verso of title page from Alexander Gardyne 1883. Small repair in paper tape on the last index page. Covers slightly worn and stained, new spine. Later endpapers. Apart from the worm holes a good, complete copy.

Reference: BM VII, p. 2; Emily Mann, Viewed from a Distance: Eighteenth-Century Images of Fortifications on the Coast of West Africa, pp. 107-136 in: Shadows of Empire in West Africa: New Perspectives on European Fortifications, 2018 (1700 edition); English Short Title Catalog, T144300; Mendelssohn (1979) I, p. 653 (1700 edition); Sabin 99557 (1686 and 1700 editions only).