Buy this book on-line

WILLIAM H. BALLOU : 1935 ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT TRAVEL DIARY OF A SHIP'S FIREMAN DETAILING A TRIP FROM NORTH TO SOUTH AMERICA AND THE AMAZON DELTA HANDWRITTEN WITH INCREDIBLE DETAIL AND A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF PERSONALITY

4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. On offer is a super pair [2] of manuscript 8 x 10 inch notebooks handwritten we believe by a sailor named William H. Ballou. While he does not identify himself in these books he is known though other writings to be one and the same person. The notebooks detail an extended trip from the USA to South America including the Amazon River dated February 19th 1935 - September 17th 1935 aboard the SS West Cactus of the McCormick Steamship Co. William's job title is Fireman aboard the ship but has other duties and is kept very busy but he is a dedicated diarist who details the characters aboard ship, the Ports of Call including: Port Gamble, Port Ludlow, Coos Bay, Port Townsend, Amazon Delta, Atlantico Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and many, many more. They are carrying a load of lumber and passengers including an author only identified as Mr. Gifford who we believe could be Edward Winslow Gifford who wrote a couple of books regarding south America. William is a character as is evident from his writings. He describes ship board life and all the shore trips, his mates even telling the reader 'their stories'. He begins the first book with a story of his own: 'There is a bug in the outskirts of my bunk that keeps nipping me in spite of my attempts to exterminate him. I tried strategy last night, I took a fire ax, turned in and covered myself entirely. Then I stuck a finger out and held the ax up ready to mash finger and bug when he rose to the bait. It didn't work due to the fact I fell asleep dropping the ax which cut my head off and the damn bug bit me anyway. I have yet to find out whether the pest was drowned in the blood that followed. Maybe my achievement was successful after all. (Later) I got the bug all right but he has a wife. Now it's a race whether I get here before she starts one herself. If I do it will be a case of winning a race before it started.' Droll but keen eyed and observant he does a superlative job of putting the reader aboard ship with him and along with his adventures ashore. The two books are 104 pages and 20 pages and the pages fully written. Ballou even goes back to entries and makes further notes or clarifies entries in the margins. The earlier book has a loose text block section but all are complete and overall G.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Good

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.