Bryan Edwards - The history, civil and commercial, of the British colonies in the West Indies. Fourth edition - 1807

Classic publication on the British Caribbean, and other West Indian islands, with several maps, e.g. of Cuba, Jamaica, St. Vincent, St. Domingo, and views, e.g. the "Venus of Angola" and "Negro Festival on St. Vincent".
Published in London by John Stockdale, In three volumes. Detailed pagination is as follows: lxxxvi [xlviii, viii, xxx], 1669 [576, 616, 477] pp. There are 22 plates in all, including one portrait of the author, as frontispiece. [COMPLETE].
The author, Bryan Edwards (1743 – 1800) was an English politician and historian. "In 1793 he published in two volumes the History, Civil and Commercial, of the British Colonies in the West Indies, and in 1797 published his Historical Survey of the French Colony in the Island of St Domingo. The latter two titles were later republished, with some additional material, as the History of the British Colonies in the West Indies, in three volumes [This work]. This has been translated into German and, in part, into French and Spanish. A fifth edition was issued in 1819" (Wikipedia).
Provenance: an armorial bookplate of Charles Porcher (1800-1863) on the front pastedowns and blind-stamped on the front boards. Porcher was appointed Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff of Dorset in 1846.
Panels loose, spines heavily worn, title labels partly gone, leather dry. Hardly visible blind-stamp on title pages and last pages. Spotted throughout, sometimes less, sometimes more (see pictures), but in all a good copy, except for the rather poor bindings.