Psalmanazar, George (pseud.) | Formosan fraud

Psalmanazar, George (pseud.) 

An Historical and Geographical Description of Formosa, an Island Subject to the Emperor of Japan. London: Printed for Mat. Wotton, Abel Roper and B. Lintott; Fr. Coggan; Strahan and W. Davis, 1705

8vo (191 x 114 mm). Engraved folding map of Formosa, engraved folding table of the Formosan alphabet, 16 engraved plates (one folding), title within double-ruled frame; some foxing and light browning, repair to long tear in center left margin of plate opposite p. 55. Contemporary Cambridge style calf binding; sympathetically rebacked, edges of endpapers browned.

Famous fraud by the pseudonymous author George Psalmanazar, who, after being educated by Jesuits, turned vagabond at the age of 16 and amazingly managed to trick most of his contemporaries into believing his fabulous stories about his sojourn in Formosa.

REFERENCE:

Cordier Sinica 281–282 and Japonica 408; ESTC T137017