Letters, Remarks, &c. with a View to open an Extensive Trade in the article of tin from the County of Cornwall to India, Persia, and China.

London: Printed by W. and J. Stratford. 1790.

First edition. 8vo. 200x130mm. pp. [4], 44. Plus three leaves of waxed blue card on which were mounted samples of tin foil from Banca (an island off Sumatra) and Cornwall. These samples have since oxidised to dust, leaving residues. Contemporary tree calf, rebacked to style, original metal clasps, marbled endpapers. Contemporary book label of George Croker Fox, a shipping agent and merchant from Falmouth whose father (of the same name) founded the family firm of G.C.Fox. The firm also had mining interests in Cornwall and so this book which combined the family's business in mining and trading by sea would have been of special interest. JISC Library Hub locates nine copies.
The purpose of this little book was to encourage trade in tin between the mines of Cornwall and customers in the middle- and far- East. The letters pay tribute to the quality of Cornish tin and are addressed to traders and officials who were in a position to open up lines of trade. There is also an account of tin shipped by the East India Company to China. The samples on the blue waxed card (these are almost always rubbed off but here we have some residues) were intended to demonstrate what the letters claimed - namely that Cornish tin was as good, if not better, than the tin from Banca.
Sold with: FERGUSON, John. Extract of a letter from John Ferguson, Esq. a capital Asiatic Merchant, to Mr George Unwin. Dated Calcutta, Nov. 1789
Unrecorded. A single leaf fold in two containing a single printed page with blank verso and integral blank leaf. This unrecorded letter is in reply to Unwin's letter of 13th April with "enclosures respecting the Cornwall Tin". Presumably these enclosures included the samples of Cornish and Barca tin. Ferguson states that he is happy that the tin is of the same quality as the Malay tin. He says that the Chinese will be impressed with the Cornish tin and will pay accordingly (they are never prejudiced in matters of commerce) but that it might take some time for the Indian market to catch up: "the people of this country are less knowing, and very averse to anything new or uncommon".
A fascinating insight into an unusual corner of late eighteenth century trade.