Bindings sound, texts unmarked. Both vols bear the contemporary ownership inscription of D. Jackson Steward on title page; on Vol I his name also appears on front pastedown endpaper. Both books are well preserved overall; foxing to pages, light spotting to boards. Some wear to corners, some small chips to cloth at spine ends; both spines have slight lean, Vol I more so. Vol I has frontis of Muscat, Vol II of Muckie; both with intact tissue guards. Rear free endpaper of Vol I has some antique sketches in pencil, rather well done actually. Blue ink spot at fore-edge of first couple leaves of Vol II. Last flyleaf before rear free endpaper of vol II is about half torn out parallel to spine.
Author given here only as "An Officer of the Navy," but it is typically and almost certainly correctly attributed to Joshua Henshaw Belcher, later Joshua Sidney Henshaw. In records of this book, sometimes Belcher/Henshaw's first name is given as "John" instead of "Joshua," and the book has been variously attributed to other authors, e.g. "Robert Burts" or "Horatio Bridge," but the Belcher/Henshaw attribution can be made with confidence. Belcher—who later, in an act of the Pennsylvania legislature, changed his name to Joshua Sidney Henshaw, going on to publish several books under that name—was raised in Boston and died in Utica, NY. (His name change is tracked in the online records of the Naval Historical Center.) He was recruited, according to his own account in the book, as part of an "experiment" initiated by the Navy 5 years prior, and was one of "three such Professors of Mathematics" in the squadron, one of which was a passenger, with the other two being attached to specific ships. In later years, Commodore Read himself relayed praise from Commander Wyman for a list of men including "Belcher, professor of mathematics," for their actions in the conflict that came to be known as the "The Second Sumatran Expedition" (this is recorded in the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute dated December 1910). Belcher offers his own account of this series of events in some detail in volume II.
The books are full of interesting accounts and details about life on board, inter-sailor squabbles, pirates, regional wildlife like orangutans and exotic fruit like durian (there is quite a bit of discussion of food and drink, including liquors and alcoholic beverages). There are many oservations about culture, politics and religion, and the text is littered with literary references that suggest a classically learned man of the day. Rio, Muscat, Madeira, Arabia, Zanzibar, Bombay, Ceylon, Goa, Quallah Battoo, Sumatra, Muckie, Singapore, Canton, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Tahiti, Chile, and Peru are just some of the locales covered.
This book is easily confused with many other books of the era with the same title, not to mention two very similarly titled accounts of this same voyage, namely Cruise of the frigate Columbia around the world, under the command of Commodore George C. Read, by William Meacham Murrell, and The Flagship; Or A Voyage Around The World, In The United States Frigate Columbia; Attended By Her Consort The Sloop Of War John Adams, And Bearing The Broad Pennant Of Commodore George C. Read, by Fitch W. Taylor. Interestingly, Taylor's book includes a list of officers on board that has a Belcher as "Prof. of Mathematics," though he misidentifies, presumably, "J. Henshaw Belcher" as "Hiram Belcher."
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J.S. Henshaw J.H. Belcher.