William Lithgow | The totall discourse of the rare adventures, 1632, contemporary calf, Lord North's copy

William Lithgow

The totall discorse, ofthe rare adventures, and painefull peregrinations of long nineteene yeares travayles from Scotland, to the most famous kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica... Wherein is contayned, an exact relation, of the lawes, religion, policies, and government of all their prines, potentates, and people. Together with the grievous tortures he suffered, by the Inquisition of Malaga in Spaine... London: Nicholas Okes, 1632

4to (184 x 140mm.), frontispiece with woodcut illustration, woodcut initials and headpieces, woodcut illustrations, contemporary English calf, printer's waste in binding, spotting and toning, spine ends and upper joint restored

An entertaining account of Lithgow's travels around Europe and north Africa, mentioning all sorts of customs from coffee drinking to tattoos, along with his account of torture and imprisonment by the Spanish Inquisition in Malaga.

LITERATURE

ESTC S124562; STC 15712.5; C.E. Bosworth, An intrepid Scot: William Lithgow of Lanark's Travels in the Ottoman Lands, North Africa and Central Europe, 1609-1621 (Routledge, 2017)

PROVENANCE

Frederick North (1766-1827), earl of Guilford, armorial bookplate