An historical disquisition concerning the knowledge which the ancients had of India : and the progress of trade with that country prior to the discovery of the passage to it by the Cape of Good Hope : with an appendix, containing observations on the civil policy, the laws and judicial proceedings, the arts, the sciences, and religious institutions of the Indians

London : Printed for A. Strahan and T. Cadell,, 1794-01-01. 2nd. Hardcover. Good. 0x0x0. Second edition. Late 19th century 3/4 black leather over marbled boards. vi, 441, [20] pages, 2 fold out maps. Hardcover. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Bookplate removal wear to pastedown. Foxing throughout. Offsetting to maps First map detached in two sections. Goldsmiths-Kress no. 15939.12-1. "The Disquisition falls into two main parts: the first two-thirds is a narrative of the commercial contacts India had with the outside world from ancient times to the sixteenth century; the remainder is a long appendix describing Indian culture. The narrative portion documents, gathers, and summarizes familiar but scattered material; the appendix is broadly descriptive and more innovative, following the pattern developed in the descriptive chapters of the History of America Robertson has been chiefly remembered as a historian. His four published historical works brought him considerable fame and wealth, and they helped establish historical writing as one of the foremost literary genres of Enlightenment Scotland Although in recent years both Hume and Gibbon have often been considered greater historians in terms of intellectual insight and historical comprehension, Robertson's contemporaries generally had no hesitation about making him their equal, if not superior." (ODNB)