William Davies | A true relation of the travailes and most miserable captivitie, 1614, the Beckford copy

William Davies

A true relation of the travailes and most miserable captivitie of William Davies, Barber-Surgion of London, under the Duke of Florence ... discovering many mayne lands, islandes, rivers, cities, and townes of the Christians and Infidels. London: [by Thomas Snodham] for Nicholas Bourne, 1614

FIRST EDITION, small 4to (185 x 127mm.), later tree calf gilt by C. Kalthoeber (with his ticket), flat spine gilt, red morocco label, gilt edges, spotting, final text leaf (E4) remargined

THE BECKFORD COPY. EXCEEDINGLY RARE. No other copy of this work has appeared at auction in over 50 years, and in the past 100 years only 2 other copies have appeared at auction: the Corser-Huth-Penrose copy sold at Sotheby's in 1971, and the Leconfield copy sold by Sotheby's in 1928.

This powerful and engaging account of William Davies' who became a galley slave of the Turks and later of the Florentines and after his release from the latter he served as a ship's doctor on a voyage to the West Indies and the Amazon.

This work describes Davies' journey across Europe, including Cyprus, to North Africa and eventually the West Indies and details his naval exploits and mishaps at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Davies was born a gentleman, and set sail in a trading ship from Cornwall in 1597-98 as a barber-surgeon. Upon reaching Rome, he then travelled to Algiers and Tunis, where his ship was attacked by the galleys of the Duke of Florence. Davies was captured and forced to work as a slave for eight years and ten months at Leghorn (Livorno) ("...I lived in this manner, from sunne rising to sunne set, chained in a cart like a horse, receiving more blowes than any Cart-horse in England..."). He was hired to work by an English captain of a Florentine ship for a journey to the Amazon. Upon his return to Italy, Davies' ship was attacked again, this time by an English pirate. His luck remained foul as he was later arrested by agents of the Inquisition and imprisoned, but he eventually escaped and returned to London in 1614.

LITERATURE

ESTC S109386 (8 copies); STC (2nd edition) 6365; Sabin 18774; not in Cobham-Jefferey

PROVENANCE

William Beckford, sale in these rooms, 7 July 1882, lot 2376, sold for £7-7s