Rare SOUTH America - Robertson brothers - 1843 - Argentina Uruguay - 2 vols only For Sale

The concluding two volumes of a scarce John Murray travel narrative describing the Paraná and Río de la Plata, preserved in the publisher\'s original cloth and rich in first-hand observations of nineteenth-century South America.

Bibliographic Details

Author: ROBERTSON BROTHERS (John Parish Robertson, 1792–1843, and William Parish Robertson, 1794–1850).
Title: Letters on South America; comprising Travels on the Banks of the Paraná and Rio de la Plata.
Place of Publication: London.
Publisher: John Murray.
Date / Edition: 1843. First edition.
Volumes: Volumes II and III only (of the original three-volume set).
Pagination: Vol. II: xi, [1], 300 pages. Vol. III: vii, [1], 345 pages.
Binding: Publisher\'s original mauve cloth.
Size: 8vo (each approximately 20.4 × 13 cm).

Condition

Very Good. The bindings remain firm and sound with light fading to the cloth of both volumes. Small mark to the foot of the spine of Volume III.

Internally clean and bright throughout. Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report or examine the gallery photographs closely.

Description

The concluding two volumes of the Robertson brothers\' celebrated South American travels, offering a first-hand account of the Paraná and Río de la Plata during a period of profound political and commercial change following the collapse of Spanish colonial authority.

John Parish Robertson and his younger brother William were Scottish merchants whose commercial ambitions took them deep into the interior of South America during the opening decades of the nineteenth century. Although their business ventures met with mixed success, their extensive travels furnished them with an exceptional body of observations on the geography, commerce and societies of the region.

Writing from personal experience, the brothers describe river travel, frontier settlements, trade, agriculture, political developments and everyday life with unusual immediacy. Their narrative captures a South America that remained little known to most British readers, providing a valuable record of countries emerging from colonial rule and establishing new national identities.

Published by the distinguished house of John Murray, whose list included many of the nineteenth century\'s greatest travel writers, the work reflects Britain\'s growing commercial and political interest in Latin America during the post-Napoleonic era. The Robertsons combined the perspective of practical businessmen with the curiosity of experienced travellers, producing an account that remains valuable to both historians and collectors.

Although lacking the opening volume, these concluding books contain substantial material relating to South American commerce, travel and society, and stand as important documentary sources for the history of Argentina, Uruguay and the wider Río de la Plata region.

Examples in the original publisher\'s cloth are increasingly desirable, preserving the appearance intended by John Murray at the time of publication and adding to the appeal of these scarce travel volumes.

Notes

An attractive pair of first-edition volumes by the Robertson brothers, preserving an important contemporary account of early nineteenth-century South America in original publisher\'s cloth.

Particularly desirable for collectors of South American exploration, Argentina, Uruguay, travel literature, John Murray publications, British merchants abroad and nineteenth-century geography.

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