John Harris | A Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels, 1744-48, 2 volumes, folio, maps and plates, modern half calf

John Harris

Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca. Or, a complete collection of Voyages and Travels. Consisting of above six hundred of the most authentic writers. London: T. Woodward, A. Ward, S. Birt [et al.], 1744-1748

Second edition, 2 volumes, large folio (405 x 245mm.), titles printed in red and black, licence leaf in volume 1, 22 engraved maps (15 folding), and 38 (of 39) plates (one folding), index and list of maps and plates at end of volume 2, some erratic pagination, modern half calf, leather labels to spines, modern endpapers, lacking plate 28 ('Four Admirals'), some browning and spotting throughout, some stains or rust marks, licence leaf laid down, volume 2 title laid down with tears and small loss at corners, tears to leaves 3M2, 6A, 6C2, 6H2, 12P2, other minor tears or loss at corners (not affecting text), folding map of Africa slightly creased, one plate with short tear at head slightly into engraved area, 6C torn at lower corner with small loss of printed footnotes, map of Europe detached, world map supplied from another copy and becoming loose, extremities slightly rubbed

The second and best edition of this important collection of voyages, including the first English map of New Holland (Australia). The first volume covers 'The history of the circumnavigators' and 'Comprehending the discovery, settlement, and commerce of the East-Indies'. The latter, which is over 600 pages, includes the accounts of William de Rubruquis, Marco Polo, Francis Pirard de Laval, Commodore Beaulieu, Mandelslo, Tavernier, James Cunningham (on Chusan), William Adams (Japan), and others. The second volume covers the rest of the world, including the Americas, accounts relating to the Middle East and China.

LITERATURE:

Hill 775; Tooley (Australia) 241; Alden 744.116; Sabin 30483; Lada-Mocarski 3; Goldsmiths 8040