Madagascar—Boothby | A Brief Discovery or Description of the most Famous Island of Madagascar, London, 1646

Madagascar—Richard Boothby

A Brief Discovery or description of the most famous island of Madagascar or St. Laurence in Asia neare unto East-India. With relation of the healthfulnesse, pleasure, fertility and wealth of that country, comparable if not transcending all the easterne parts of the world, a very earthly paradise; a most fitting and desirable place, to settle an English Colony and Plantation there, rather than any other part of the knowne world. London: Edward Griffin, 1646

FIRST EDITION, 4to (190 x 140mm), contemporary panelled calf gilt, spine gilt, red morocco label, rebacked with later endpapers (stained)

Boothby, in his investigation of Madagascar through his this work, "had suffered much in his efforts to draw the attention of his countrymen to the resources of some countries little known to them", for he claimed in his preface, dedicated to the King, that, "he that is Lord and King of Madagascar may easily in good time be Emperor of all India" (Cambridge History of English Literature).

LITERATURE:

Wing B3743