Life & Adventures Peter Wilkins Flying fantasy 1840 adventure travel book

(Old Books, 19th Century Books, Literature, Adventures).

The Life and Adventures of Peter Wilkins; Containing an Account of His Visit to the Flying Islanders.
Published 1840, Boston by C. D. Strong.
186 pages. Text in English.

Apparently the book is an imaginary fantasy account.

Publisher's plain ruled cloth binding, gilt title lettering, covers outline ruled in blind.

This small pocket sized book is physically old and shows some signs of handling and time. Item is not new or in "new" condition. An interesting survival with a curious internal injury.

Binding gently age worn, cloth rubbed and scuffed, remains overall sound and attractive as an object.

Text block paper is well age toned, light to moderate scattered age spotting, two pages display a most curious burn (not shown in pics) as if one of the pages within had actually caught fire individually at it's lower corner (with some loss of text) and a small hole in the page next to it resulted from the same ember. Otherwise internally still well preserved, tight, sound. 

19th century books which show such clear evidence of an old fire within them are quite rare indeed, a dealer who inspects thousands of antiquarian books a month could go for years never encountering one. Very curious as a talking point, a unique one of a kind survival. I wonder how many books catch on fire and survive? -probably not many.

Still attractive on the shelf. Book displays a pleasing and unique age patina and is in nice antiquarian condition, any age flaws easy to overlook or forgive. 

Please review photos for more detail and our best attempt to convey how this antique item survives.

Book Measures c. 5" H x 3" W.

[B2629].