Through Puritan Eyes: Robert Knox in the Kingdom of Kandy, 1660-1679

Ine the year 1681, Richard Chiswell, printer to the Royal Society, published at the Rose and Crown in Saint Paul’s Churchyard the first book about Ceylon in the English language —and one which is in some ways still the best. This work, which was ushered into the world with a brief commendation by Sir Christopher Wren and a lengthy preface by Dr. Robert Hooke, was entitled, somewhat long-windedly: An Historical Relation of the island Ceylon, in the East-Indies: together with an account of the detaining in captivity the author and divers other Englishmen now living there, and of the author's miraculous escape. By Robert Knox, a captive there near twenty years.