1906 Some Recollections by Captain Charles P. Low | Fine Leather Binding | China Trade Clipper Ships

 A beautifully bound early 20th-century edition of Some Recollections by Captain Charles P. Low: Commanding the Clipper Ships “Houqua,” “Jacob Bell,” “Samuel Russell,” and “N. B. Palmer,” in the China Trade, 1847–1873, published in Boston by Geo. H. Ellis Co. in 1906. This is the Second Edition, comprising 179 pages. 

Captain Charles Porter Low’s memoir offers a fascinating firsthand account of the great American clipper-ship era and his decades at sea during the height of the nineteenth-century China trade. Beginning with his early life and entrance into seafaring, Low recounts voyages between New York, China, and other ports; life aboard the celebrated clippers which he commanded; encounters with severe weather and typhoons; navigation, crews and shipboard routines; and the extraordinary speed and competition associated with the China trade. The ships at the center of his recollections include the Houqua, Jacob Bell, Samuel Russell, and N. B. Palmer, making the volume particularly appealing to collectors of maritime history, clipper ships, exploration, and nineteenth-century commerce. 

The volume is illustrated with a photographic portrait frontispiece of Captain Low together with additional portraits and maritime illustrations, including dramatic depictions of the Houqua at sea and the clipper ship N. B. Palmer.

In a very handsome blue fine leather binding, richly decorated in gilt and signed in gilt “Bound by The Booklovers Shop Cleveland” along the lower inner edge of the front board. Both boards feature multiple gilt-rule borders surrounding elaborate gilt ornamental devices, while the raised-band spine carries gilt compartments, a gilt-lettered title panel, and additional gilt decoration. Dentelle detailing. Gilt top edges with rough-cut fore and bottom edges, and beautifully marbled endpapers. Included is a gilt bookplate of Albert Anthony Augustus mounted to the front pastedown. 

Size: 4¾” x 8”.

Condition: Near Fine. A very attractive copy with a leather blue binding; richly gilt detailing, and interior clean and well preserved.