Interspersed with an entertaining Relation not only of the principal Events, which happened during the Author's Thirty Years Residence in those Parts; but also of the most remarkable Occurrences and Revolutions in those vast Dominions for this Century past; comprehending also Many curious and interesting particulars relating to our commerce with those Countries, and the affairs of the East India Company.
Second London edition (first edition published in Edinburgh in 1727): I. xxxii, 400; II. vii, 320 pages, 8 folding maps and 11 plates, contemporary sprinkled calf rebacked preserving the original title labels gilt, bookplates on the endpapers, occasional light foxing, a very good copy.
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/12042)Tony Ballantyne:
'Hamilton, Alexander (b. before 1688, d. in or after 1733), East India Company servant and writer, is described in contemporary sources as a 'Scotchman', but they contain no reference to his birth, family connections, or death. The little we know of him is primarily gleaned from his important A New Account of the East Indies (1727). In 1688, 'very young', Hamilton went to sea to satisfy the demands of a 'rambling Mind' and because he had 'a Fortune too narrow' to allow him to travel like a gentleman. The details of his early maritime career are unknown beyond his observation that he spent his 'younger Days … visiting most of the maratim Kingdoms of Europe, and some parts of Barbary' before travelling to Jamaica (Hamilton, xxvi). After returning to England Hamilton set out for India, departing in April 1688 on the Shrewsbury as an extra hand, arriving in Bombay in November 1688. Soon after his arrival he was pressed into the East India Company's service against the sidi of Janjira. Given the command of an 8 ton privateer, Hamilton acquitted himself well, capturing eight prizes for the company. By 1690 he had moved north to Surat, one of the most important ports in the Indian Ocean. Here he gained considerable experience in Asian trade, initially in the service of the private trader George Bowcher. After sailing to Karwar and Amoy (Xiamen) under the command of Bowcher's son-in-law George Yeoman, Hamilton returned to Surat, whence he launched his first independent venture in 1694, sailing to Achin and Malacca in a vessel leased from a local Muslim trader. This marked the beginning of a long career in the ‘country trade’, as Hamilton leased or captained a variety of ships that traversed the Indian Ocean and beyond, reaching as far west as Jiddah, as far north as Amoy, and as far east as Java. Although the records of his movements are patchy, there is no doubt that this was an adventurous life. Along with fifty other Britons he was imprisoned by the governor of Surat in 1695 after a local ship was captured by a European pirate. He played a key role in this crisis as he circulated a plan for an armed uprising by the prisoners. As a result he was interrogated by the East India Company council in Surat, in whose presence he displayed his fondness for 'rude expressions'. Over the next two decades he undertook a host of journeys, repulsing the attentions of Indian pirates, protecting his cargo from Baluchi robbers, blockading ports, or seizing the cargo of Chinese junks. These feats gained him a reputation for courage and resourcefulness, leading to his appointment as the commander of the company's Bombay marine force in June 1717. Although he subsequently acquitted himself well in the relief of the Karwar factory, he became embroiled in conflict with the company and resigned his position in January 1718. Hamilton returned to private trade, travelling to Cambodia and Ayuthaya, and spending much time in the Persian Gulf. Finally, in late 1723 or in 1724, Hamilton returned to Britain, probably settling in Scotland. Over 'two long winters' he worked on his narrative, which, dedicated to James, duke of Hamilton, was printed in Edinburgh by John Mosman in 1727. Although the Gentleman's Magazine records the death of a Captain Alexander Hamilton in October 1732, our subject appears in East India Company directors' minutes in June 1733 (BL OIOC, B162, 368). While his death and much of his life remain unclear, his New Account of the East Indies is particularly significant as a detailed picture of British involvement in the cosmopolitan world of Asian trade. Reprinted in 1744, his two-volume account was published in a new edition in 1930 with an introduction by Sir William Foster.'
