IRELAND IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, AND SEVENTH OF ENGLAND'S DOMINION; ENRICHED WITH COPIOUS DESCRIPTIONS OF THE RESOURCES OF THE SOIL, AND SEATS AND SCENERY OF THE NORTH WEST DISTRICT
London, England: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1833. Leather-bound. Octavo. Half calf over (stone) marbled boards. Rubbing to extremities. Probable original boards, rebacked with a fairly recent calf spine laid down. Stain to fore-edge. Pages supple and bright.
Author would no doubt be labeled a "socialist" these days, given his championing of the working class, to wit: "...If the government have been brought to see that an elevation of Ireland in the scale of intelligence and moral chacter, is essential to the improvement of the country, and to the security of the state,they will instantly enter upon a system of legislation, by which the rights of the working classes of that country may be protected against the numerous operations of that oppressive domestic power, by which their moral interests have been retarded, and their ignorance and slavery secured..." (pp. 226-7). Very Good. Item #85266
"A. Atkinson" appears to be the or a pseudonym of John Stewart, he of "Roll of a Tennis Ball Through the Moral World." Stewart has written: "TO THE SUBSCRIBER. It is with the utmost sincerity of regret, that the Author presents this volume to the Subscriber at so late a period He is also concerned that it is not in his power to press into the present publication, his travels in the prosecution of this work up to Christmas 1811, which with the anecdotes and reflections connected, might have proved intereresting to some of his Readers : but as these (considering that they occupy a space of between one and two hundred pages) could not be inserted here, without omitting subjects of a weightier character; he has adopted the resolution of publishing his travels with other manuscripts in a second volume -Those who approve of the first, will have the goodness to interest themselves in promoting subscriptions for the publication of the second and for a second edition of the first, as there is not a single book of the present edition undisposed of. Any exertions of the Author's friends to promote this work will be gratefully acknowledged ; and any letters (post-paid) addressed to A. Atkinson, General Post-office Dublin, on this subject, shall meet with respectful attention. The Author thinks it necessary to apologize for requesting his Correspondents to post-pay their letters to Dublin (the expence of which he wishes to be deducted from the subscriptions in their hands) - it is for the purpose of preventing or at least diminishing unnecessary anonymous communications that he has adopted this plan... " Known as 'Walking' Stewart to his contemporaries for having travelled on foot from Madras, India (where he had worked as a clerk for the East India Company) back to Europe between 1765 and the mid-1790s. Stewart is thought to have walked alone across Persia, Abyssinia, Arabia, and Africa before wandering into every European country as far east as Russia.
Price: $300.00