Bertolacci, Anthony A view of the agricultural, commercial and financial interests of Ceylon. With an appendix; containing some of the principal laws and usages of the Candians; port and custom-house regulations; tables of exports and imports, public revenue and expenditure, &c.&c. London Black, Parbury, and Allen 1817
First edition, 8vo, pp.[xvi], 577, [1], blank, 26 tables, large hand-coloured folding map, 51 x 32 cm. A good complete copy bound in modern imitation leather. Text foxed, final leaves preserved in Japanese tissue. Map in very good condition, with one short split and a few paper repairs to reverse.

A valuable, comprehensive description of the economic state of the island of Ceylon in the early years of British administration. Anthony Bertolacci (1776-1833), a Corsican, served in the Ceylon civil service from 1798 to 1814, rising to Controller General of Customs and Auditor General. This was the first economic history of Ceylon to be published, and benefits from Bertolacci's decades of first-hand experience of the island's financial administration. Although our copy of the book has suffered from long residence in the climate of Ceylon, the large folding map, A new map of the island of Ceylon, compiled by Captain Schneider, Colombo, 1813, and printed by Black, Parbury & Allen in London in November 1816 remains in very good condition. It is perhaps the earliest map of the island based on systematic surveying, after the 1812-13 surveys of Captain Gaulterus Schneider, the Dutch officer appointed Surveyor-General under British rule.