George Frederick Masterman — Seven Eventful Years in Paraguay

London, Sampson, Low, Son and Marston, 1869. First edition. Cloth. The important first edition of this account of the war between Paraguay and Brazil. Vanishingly scarce in this English edition, published a year before the Spanish edition. The original English edition of this important account of the Paraguayan or Triple Alliance war. In 1861, Masterman was appointed Chief Military Apothecary to Carlos Solano Lopez's ill fated army. Masterman was with Solano at the retreat from Asuncion, a pivotal and desperate moment leading to the destruction of Paraguay at the hands of the Brazilian and Argentinian forces. Solano's army took immense casualties during a disastrous guerrilla campaign together with the Paraguayan population as whole, the episode being a disaster for Paraguay. This work stands as a first hand original account of the period including an excellent account of a more prosperous Paraguay prior to the occupation by Brazil and Argentina which left the country in ruins and with many of its population dead. This original English edition is vanishingly rare, not having been seen at auction in the last fifty years. A second edition was sold last in 1981. In the original cloth binding. Illustrated, with a frontispiece and map. The frontispiece has a photograph of the author tipped in, with 'Very faithfully yours G F Masterman' printed below. Collated, complete. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Externally, generally smart with minor bumping to the head and tail of spine. Hinges are slightly strained but firm. Book is slightly cocked. Prior owner's inscriptions to the endpapers. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright. Scattered spotting to the first and last few pages. Frontispiece photograph has faded. Pages are otherwise clean. Good . Ill.: None. Good .