Valle, Pietro della.

First English edition, folio (294 x 185mm.), imprimatur leaf, double-page engraved map, 3 engraved plates, 5 woodcut plans within text, contemporary blind-ruled calf, spine gilt in compartments, vellum spine liner, [Wing V47], rust hole to U2 affecting a few letters, small tears with loss (not affecting text), slight creasing, spotting or staining, binding worn

signature on front endpaper, apparently Jo. Boyd, possibly Sir John Boyd (1718-1800), who was a director of the East India Company between 1753 and 1764, serving as the company's deputy chairman in 1759-60; Earls of Macclesfield, bookplate, sale in these rooms 15 March 2007, lot 3304

Della Valle left Venice in 1614 on a pilgrimage to Palestine; crossing Mesopotamia to Baghdad, he travelled into Persia, where he resided, and then further east to India. His return from Goa was by way of Muscat and Basra, finally reaching Rome in 1626. First published in Italian in three volumes (1650-63), this English translation is of the final part only, covering the period from 1623 describing his departure from Persia, time in India and return to Europe by way of the Persian Gulf. A significant part of the work (pp.325-480), is taken up with "A relation of Sir Thomas Roe's Voyage into the East-Indies". There were three different imprints in 1665, for J. Martin and J. Allestry; for John Place and, as in the present copy, for Henry Herringham.