Hillman, Old Timers British American CHILE, c1900, RARE

"Old Timers" British and American in Chile
by
'Quien Sabe' [Charles F. Hillman]

* * See below for more pictures * *

 DETAILS: (Santiago): Imprenta Moderna, n.d. (c1900). First edition. Publisher's grey cloth. 449pp. 8vo (standard sized book).

CONDITION: Very Good (see table below for details). Some sunning and edgewear to boards and spine, tiny stain to front board. Lean to binding. A little sunning to pages, occasional light dirt spots, otherwise in very good internal condition. Hinges firm and binding still strong. Small contemporary bookseller's sticker to top edge of front pastedown (W.G. Paton & Co., La Libreria Inglesa, Concepcion). *Photo(s) given of actual book.

CONTENTS: An extremely rare account of life in Chile by an American engineer, Charles Hillman. Hillman had come to Chile to work for the Ferrocarril del Sur on a street tram system in Santiago (the tram system is mentioned in a small section, pp310-316). According to the preface, the work is made up of a few chapters which were published in a perdiodical, supplemented by various other chapters that weren't previously published.

The volume contains a wealth of history focusing on the pioneering Americans and Britons who lived and worked in Chile, including diplomats and naval officers ("It is believed that the larger part of those who shall scan these pages will be surprised to find that...they have quite ignored the magnitude of debt owed by Chile to the memory of Britons and Americans; a debt which may be said to have given Chile her first navy - besides fighting her first battles on the sea."). It mentions notable foreign figures in Chile over the previous century, and events of interest (including the First and Second Succession Rebellions, of 1851 and 1859, and the participation of foreigners, as well as the impact on Britons and Americans).

This is an impressive copy of this volume, still in its original binding, and internally in solid condition. Worldcat lists a handful of copies in the USA (and one in Chile). Rare!