The English Barbary Company (EBC) was established in 1585 to promote trade with the region. Traditionally in the sphere of influence of Portugal, Spain, and Genoa, England was keen to obtain sugar, saltpetre, and other goods in exchange for timber and firearms (the English trade in weaponry started early). There was also a huge rivalry between the Great Powers of England and Spain, with England keen to put Spain’s nose out of joint.

During the hundred years that followed the establishment of the EBC, England, Morocco and Spain were in a constant state of shifting alliances and war. England gained the important city of Tangier in 1661 and ruled it for the next twenty-five years.

From this era, we offer The Present State of Tangier (1676), by George Philips, secretary to the Governor, George O’Brien. This scarce work is really a piece of propaganda, emphasising the plentiful supplies of the city during a time of Spanish embargo. A charming unpressed copy in a simple contemporary binding.

Diplomatic relations between Britain and Morocco were not established until the Windus Embassy of 1720, which resulted in the freeing of almost 300 British slaves. This Embassy was one of the most important events in British-Moroccan history and we have a first-hand account in the form of A Journey to Mequinez (1725), by John Windus.