{"product_id":"guide-commerce-bengal-use-merchants-ship-owners-commanders-9yt7k99o","title":"A Guide to the Commerce of Bengal, for the use of merchants, ship owners, commanders, officers, pursers and others, resorting to the East Indies, but particularly of those connected with the shipping and commerce of Calcutta ...","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eRare and important: this guide for merchants in British India provides not only a granular account of the rules and regulations concerning shipping in India, but also an extraordinary overview of global opportunities for trade with India. A directory of East India Company activity, it’s also a desirable and handsome early Calcutta imprint\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eJohn Phipps (1777-1840) worked in the Harbour Master’s Office in Calcutta where he accumulated considerable practical experience and was familiar with the details relating to trade regulations. His job also gave him access to the latest important economic data and trade statistics. The Charter Act of 1813 had already curtailed the privileges of the East India Company which led to this publication for the captains of merchant ships to conduct trade in Eastern seas. Dedicated to the “commercial community of British India”, it was originally envisaged as a continuation of the commercial information in William Milburn’s \u003cem\u003eOriental Commerce\u003c\/em\u003e (London, 1813).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first part lists Port Rules and Regulations, which includes a sailing guide and template forms to be submitted upon arrival. Of great value for further research, it contains detailed lists of members of the marine establishment, captains and pilots, tables of ships built at Calcutta, Bombay, Demaun (Deman), Coringa, Prince of Wales’s Island (Penang), Surat, Cochin, Rangoon and Chittagong and remarks on their whereabouts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA comprehensive list of imports and exports by the East India company follows, which illustrates India’s importance to the region and beyond\u003c\/strong\u003e. Trading partners include London, America, Lisbon, Brazil etc. but also Canton, Macao, Penang, Malacca, Singapore, Ochotsk, Manila, the “Arabian and Persian Gulphs,” the Red Sea, Sumatra, Java, New South Wales, and the Maldives. The goods are many and varied: Madeira wine, wool, raw silk, cotton, indigo, saltpetre, sugar, rice, shellac, coffee, and opium (5 chests of which went to Port Jackson in 1814). Added to this are extensive details of these industries, rates of freight and agency in Calcutta, customs regulations, duties and a wealth of other practical information.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe book is completed with an Appendix which includes similar details for Madras, Bombay, \u003cstrong\u003eCeylon\u003c\/strong\u003e, Isle of France, \u003cstrong\u003eNew South Wales\u003c\/strong\u003e (including a Proclamation by Lachlan Macquarie, 18 pages of rules and regulations for Port Jackson, government and general orders, a guide to imports and exports), South America and Mexico, Manilla, China, Java, Batavia, Palembang, Singapore, Prince of Wales’s Island (Penang), Rangoon, Bushire (Bushehr, Persia), with detail on \u003cstrong\u003etrade with Muscat (Oman), Bussorah (Basra, Iraq), Judda (Jedda, Saidi Arabia), Mocha (Mecca), details of goods required in the Persian and Arabian Gulfs (the information concerns the early part of 1822 but trade had nearly trebled since 1802)\u003c\/strong\u003e, Siam, Cochin China, and Japan (limited by the Dutch).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThis is a work of immense interest, a snapshot of India as the power of the East India Company began to wane and, indeed, with the Indian Rebellion not far ahead\u003c\/strong\u003e. Phipps would also publish a follow up volume \u003cem\u003eA Practical Treatise on the China and Eastern Trade\u003c\/em\u003e, in two editions in 1835 and 1836, plus \u003cem\u003eA Collection of Papers Relative to Ship Building in India\u003c\/em\u003e … in 1840.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eVery rare, there are a handful of copies in institutions, but none recorded at auction.\u003c\/p\u003e\n","brand":"Maggs Bros.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47847766098077,"sku":"261044","price":25000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0669\/0045\/9677\/files\/261044_06.jpg?v=1780412117","url":"https:\/\/store.maggs.com\/products\/guide-commerce-bengal-use-merchants-ship-owners-commanders-9yt7k99o","provider":"Maggs Bros.","version":"1.0","type":"link"}