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The diary is a detailed account of Abbott's trip from Sydney, Australia to the Philippines, Hong Kong, Macao, China and Japan. There are numerous pen-and-ink sketches of landscape, architecture, historical sites, and inhabitants, and maps, some in water color. Pasted in the volume are memorabilia such as menus, hotel brochures, postcards, photographs, clippings, calling cards, etc. Of special interest are his accounts of the various native Christian communities he visited. Following the text there is a name index. In addition to the volume there are some related letters, documents, memorabilia and published maps.

There is a letter book / account book of 347 p., 1790-1856, containing 466 draft copies of his commercial and social correspondence with shipping agents in Great Britain, France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Germany, China, Canada, as well as in the United States. The correspondence concerns Bell's business arrangements, the various cargos he shipped and their disposal, political affairs affecting the shipping trade, laws and treaties of various countries to be dealt with, taxes, embargoes, piracy, threats of war, and other pertinent events. A second account book of 84 p. (many are blank), 1787-1852, for the Ship Stephania and others contains ships' records for 1799 to 1828 and miscellaneous accounts up to 1857. There is a one volume carbon typescript (113 p.) of genealogical notes and reminiscences by Gordon Knox Bell (Regent of the University of the State of New York and grandson of Isaac Bell) and others, ca.1940. There is also an essay and lists of the residents of Greenwich Street (including the Bell and Rogers families) by Elizur Yale Smith with related correspondence, 1940.