{"status":true,"msg":{"data":{"id":41313,"auction_id":70,"set_id":98,"lot_number":"43","artist":"Robert MacMicking","title":"Recollections of Manilla and the Philippines  during 1848, 1849, and 1850.","starting_price":7000,"signed_dated":"London: Richard Bentley, 1851.","medium":null,"size":null,"property":null,"coa":null,"provenance":null,"exhibited":null,"literature":null,"write_up":"This is probably the first book entirely devoted to the Philippines by a (non-Spanish) European. It is also one of the best, judging by the impartiality with which he analyzes everything related to life in the Philippines. MacMicking, a businessman, analyzes the Spanish system of administration, which he considers acceptable, but which fails to take advantage of economic opportunities; he describes some of the customs of the inhabitants of Manila, dividing them according to race; he pays attention to the populations outside Manila and the work of the friars; as a businessman, he reports on the ease with which a foreigner can open a business or buy property, although he criticizes the restrictions on buying and selling, since for foreigners everything had to be done obligatorily from Manila; he comments on the importance of the Chinese in the local economy and in the last pages he focuses on the trade of the archipelago, providing some statistical tables. It contains a large number of observations about customs, especially in the first half of the book. For example:\n“It is the custom at Manilla for any respectably-dressed European passing by a house where music and dancing are going on, to be permitted to join the party, although he\nmay be a perfect stranger to every one there; and should any one do so, after having made his bow to the master of the house, and said some words, of course about the liberty he was taking, and his fondness for music and dancing, & c., he is always welcomed by him, and is at perfect liberty to ask any lady present to dance; nor is she likely to refuse [58] him, as her doing so would scarcely be considered well bred.\nThis degree of freedom is not, however, at all times acted on in the houses of the natives of Spain, or of any European foreigners, as any one going so unceremoniously into these might not meet with so cordial a reception as he would do from the rich Mestizos, who, when they give such fêtes on feast days, are in general well pleased to receive Europeans, although perfect strangers, in their houses. These very free and unceremonious manners, among people who have such a reputation for the love of ceremony in all forms, are strange enough, for the same custom prevails in Spain, although to a more limited extent.”\nOne of the most remarkable travel books on the Philippines. Modern editions have published of this work in the Philippines, but this first edition is very rare.","lot_group":"BOOKS","lot_details_html":null,"alias":null,"hp":60000,"bp":0.2016,"isWithdrawn":0,"accounting_hp":60000,"userBid":5926,"isPaid":0,"userId":22,"lot_status":"SOLD","isDone":1,"bid_history_id":1087,"reserve_price":null,"hammer_price":72096,"fav":0},"image":[{"id":45063,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/70/98/lot/43.jpg","isFeatured":1},{"id":45065,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/70/98/lot/43 b.jpg","isFeatured":0},{"id":45060,"img_url":"https://leongallery.sgp1.digitaloceanspaces.com/v2/auction/70/98/lot/43 a.jpg","isFeatured":0}]},"increment":[70000,80000,90000,100000,110000,120000,130000,140000,150000,160000,170000,180000,190000,200000,220000,240000,260000,280000,300000,320000,340000,360000,380000,400000,450000,500000,550000,600000,650000,700000,750000,800000,900000,1000000,1100000,1200000,1300000,1400000,1500000,1600000,1700000,1800000,1900000,2000000,2200000,2400000,2600000,2800000,3000000,3200000,3400000,3600000,3800000,4000000,4200000,4400000,4600000,4800000,5000000,5500000,6000000,6500000,7000000,7500000,8000000,8500000,9000000,9500000,10000000,11000000,12000000,13000000,14000000,15000000,16000000,17000000,18000000,19000000,20000000],"prev":42,"next":44,"count_bid":0,"bid_history":[],"tokenExpired":1}