Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

In the years 1832, 1833, and 1834. by simeon south, esq. vols i and ii.

Item Description

TWO VOLUMES. 12mo. 9.25 x 6 inches. Vol. I, 355 pp.; Vol. II, [ii] + 423 pp. + [1] pp. Errata. In original green cloth, spines with printed paper titles labels over stiff card boards. Rough cut edges. Extremities worn and hinges and joints starting to crack. Margin water stains at beginning of Vol. I, including some of the portraits and scattered foxing of margins; otherwise a very good set. Illustrated by two lithograph portrait frontispieces and by 11 lithograph portraits, many with facsimile signatures, at the beginning of Vol. I. An anecdotal description of travels and encounters in northern France and Belgium in the early 1830s. with the author's reflections on politics and events such as the 1830 Revolution in Paris. Written in the form of letters to his relatives and others. The National Library of Scotland catalogue entry in Library Hub ascribes authorship to the Scottish politician and statistician, John Macgregor (1797-1857). Although born in Scotland, most of his early youth was spent in Canada. He returned to Europe about 1828 and travelled widely throughout the continent, collecting statistical information. He published several studies of the commercial statistics of both Europe and British North America as well as another European travel book, My Note Book (3 vols. 1835). Macgregor became a secretary at the Board of Trade, compiling numerous parliamentary statistical reports, but in 1847 was elected an MP for Glasgow. He served until 1857, when his career was ended by a scandal involving the Royal British Bank, which he had promoted. This readable gossipy account of European affairs in the 1830s, illustrated by lithographs of the key personalities, including Charles X (the last Bourbon monarch) Louis Philippe, the new king, Layfayette, Talleyrand and Soult, is very scarce.