Voyage of the United States frigate Potomac, under the command of Commodore John Downes, during the circumnavigation of the globe, in the years 1831, 1832, 1833, and 1834 ..

New York: Harper & Brothers, 1835. Hardcover. Good-/None. Our photos depict the actual book offered. Apparently original full leather boards with gilt titling on black field and gilt banding on spine; spine is heavily worn and chipped, and boards are rubbed, scratched and heavily edgeworn. Binding is holding, but boards are cracked at hinges and front board is detached at top half. Former owner's name inked in brown on front pastedown and verso of ffep, dated 1838 in a distinct hand. Interior is otherwise unmarked, though there is light foxing scattered throughout. Upper page edges toned. Three folding and 7 engraved B&W plates are extant; one plate has been excised at pg. 456. The frontispiece has extra folds, one is torn with a third of it missing, another has a closed tear along the edge, and one is split at its natural fold; Protective tissues intact. Tall 8vo. Ships from US. BOOK INFO: See photos for Table of Contents. Illustrated in B&W photography. 'I was at Valparaiso in October 1832...when Commodore Downes arrived at that place, from the coast of Sumatra and some of the principal ports in the East Indies. He had been expected on that station.... the signal announced a man-of-war, southwest from Playa Ancha, with all sail set, standing directly for the port.... The stripes and stars were seen waving from the mizzen peak of a stately frigate, which was now pronounced by all to be the Potomac. She entered the harbour late in the afternoon, making several seaman-like tacks against a strong southerly breeze. Crowds gathered upon the beach, and the Americans in port evinced emotions of pleasure, as each one felt that the strong and protecting arm of his government was near him. On the following day I went on board.... Here I received an invitation from the commodore to join the Potomac as his private secretary, the gentleman who had previously filled that station having died at sea. This is a pleasant birth on board a flag-ship, and I accepted it, as the stay of the commodore on the station promised me a fine opportunity to improve my knowledge of the institutions, natural capacities, commercial resources, and political condition and prospects of so large a portion of South America, which hiterto I had not been able to visit. The cruise of the Potomac, thus far, had been one of great interest, and the services performed by her of high importance to our commercial interests in the east. News of her arrival at the Island of Sumatra, and her action with the Malays, reached the United States in the early part of July, 1832, at which time Congress was still in session. Partial statements relative to the occurrences at Quallah-Battoo had been published in the journals of the day; and those papers had now reached the Pacific. The attention of Congress had been called to the subject. [The House of Representatives called for the President to review the instructions under which Commodore Downes acted in his attack on the Malays of the Island of Sumatra, and the publication of those papers was put on hold] until official, full, and accurate information was received, as to the manner in which the instructions had been executed.... These circumstances, together with the extent and nature of the Potomac's voyage,--the direct manner in which the attention of Congress and the country at large had been thus early called to it--seemed to require that an authentic record should be prepared; in which not only the incidents of the voyage, but the public considerations which led to it,--and the motives which, at different periods of the cruise, had operated on the mind of its commander...should be faithfully preserved. It was at this time, and under these circumstances, and with the express sanction of the commodore himself, that I undertook the task of preparing this record--in the exectution of which every facility was offered me.' (-from the Introduction by the author). Includes appendix and tables. 560 p.l., [v]-x, [v]-x, [11]-560 p. fold. front., plates (part fold.) fold. plan. 23 cm.