London: Printed by Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke, 1616.. [16],61,[2]pp. plus folding engraved map of New England. Small quarto. Full calf in... More

London: Printed by Humfrey Lownes, for Robert Clerke, 1616.. [16],61,[2]pp. plus folding engraved map of New England. Small quarto. Full calf in antique style. Light dampstaining on top edge. Some careful expert paper restoration to upper foremargins of first ten leaves or so (including titlepage), and to a lesser extent on some later leaves. Map trimmed to the neat line, with a very small hole (4 x 25 mm.) at center in the ocean, neatly filled in. Some contemporary manuscript on verso of title- leaf and first text leaf. A nice copy. One of the great rarities of colonial Americana, Smith's A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND... was, according to Streeter, "the pilgrim's principal guide to their American haven." Based on Smith's two visits to the New England coast in 1614 and 1615, this book did much to encourage later settlement in New England, preceding by four years the sailing of the Mayflower. In fact, Smith named Plymouth Rock, and described the place as "an excellent good harbour, good lands, and no want of anything but industrious people." Smith's first voyage was financed by a group of London merchants, with the primary objective being the search for whales and gold mines (the gold mines turned out to be "the masters device to get a voyage"). That first visit was relatively brief but afforded ample opportunities for trading with the Indians and for the collection of much geographical and natural history information. On his second voyage in 1615, Smith met with less success; thwarted by storms and pirates, he was eventually taken prisoner by a French warship. During his free time as a captive, Smith wrote A DESCRIPTION OF NEW ENGLAND..., destined to reveal the advantages and prospects for future adventurers to the region. "The use of the term 'New England' on the title page of this book established that name for the region that until then had been called North Virginia. The 'altered names' leaf, inserted between A4 and B1, records thirty new names chosen by Prince Charles to replace the mainly Indian place names of New England. All of the new names seem to have stuck except Cape James for Cape Cod" - Streeter. The rare map, printed by George Low, is here present in the fourth state as described by Sabin, Church, and Burden (there are nine recorded states of the map). Only the exceedingly rare first two states of the map properly belong with the book, both produced in 1616 (most copies, however, contain later states of the map; the only copy in some decades to have the first issue was the Siebert copy). Based on surveys made by Captain Smith for the Council for New England, the map is considered the foundation of New England cartography. It stands as the first map on which the name New England appears. The map depicts the area from the present Penobscot Bay in Maine, to Cape Cod. A monumental American rarity of the greatest possible importance. While not the main entry in PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN, Smith's GENERALL HISTORIE..., this work appeared eight years earlier, and is wholly incorporated into that work. CHURCH 369 (originally with 6th state of the map, but with the Britwell Court 1st state later substituted). BURDEN 187. STC 22788. VAIL 40. JCB II, pp.113-15. SABIN 82819. STREETER SALE 610. STREETER, AMERICANA BEGINNINGS 11. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 616/107. SIEBERT SALE 94. SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, pp.96-99. DEK, PICTURING AMERICA 19 (illustrating one of the NYPL copies). PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 124. Less

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Eight engraved plates (several of the plates in Vol. I are a little foxed). vi, [1], 220 pp.; 4 p.l., 221-560 pp.; xii, 357 pp., [3] pp. of ads.... More

Eight engraved plates (several of the plates in Vol. I are a little foxed). vi, [1], 220 pp.; 4 p.l., 221-560 pp.; xii, 357 pp., [3] pp. of ads. Three vols. 8vo, cont. cloth-backed boards (boards of each vol. are different but spines are uniform), manuscript labels on spines, uncut. Manchester: R. Bickerstaff, 1808-10 [Vols. I & II], G. Wilson, 1827 [Vol. III]. First edition and a fine complete set. Complete sets in matching bindings (the boards of each volume are different -- understandably so due to the long period of publication -- but the spines are uniform). "A milestone work in the history of chemistry, in which Dalton announced his revolutionary atomic theory and his laws of definite and multiple proportions. These fundamental laws greatly assisted the establishment of the composition and formulae of numerous inorganic and organic compounds then known and laid one of the firmest foundations ever for the advance of chemistry in the nineteenth century...The book is very rare when complete with the tree parts and the required half title to volume II, part 1."-Neville, I, p. 322-(the mentioned half-title is present in our copy). In this set a contemporary manuscript chemical table is mounted on the rear pastedown of Part I. A printed broadsheet is also mounted on the front pastedown of the same volume entitled "Atomic Symbols, by John Dalton...explanatory of a Lecture given by him to the Members of the Manchester Mechanics' Institution, 19th October 1835." Fine and handsome uncut set, in matching bindings, and preserved in a morocco-backed box. From the libraries of Haskell F. Norman and Joseph A. Freilich with bookplates. ❧ Dibner, Heralds of Science, 44. Horblit 22. Printing & the Mind of Man 261. . Less

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Paris: Estienne Michallet, 1681.. [2],16,43,[1],18,[2],32,[4],20,14,8,16pp. including six plates and errata leaf, plus two folding maps (of three,... More

Paris: Estienne Michallet, 1681.. [2],16,43,[1],18,[2],32,[4],20,14,8,16pp. including six plates and errata leaf, plus two folding maps (of three, lacking the equipolar projection map, "Explication de la carte de la Decouverte de la Terre d'Ielmer") and three plates (two folding), with eleven engravings in the text. Contemporary calf, spine gilt, raised bands. Chipped at spine ends, a bit of wear along upper and lower portions of front hinge, bottom edge of rear board slightly worn. A few neat corrections in a contemporary hand. Tasman map and the two folding plates with closed tears along the bound-in edge, but with no loss. Small closed tear along one fold of the Mississippi map, but with no loss. Overall, a very good copy, lacking only the equipolar projection map. In a half morocco box. The very rare first edition of Thevenot's collection of travels, and an essential document in the exploration of the interior of North America. This is a very complex book bibliographically, and there are many variant issues, especially in the part of the work devoted to natural history discoveries of Swammerdam and others. Many copies lack some of the natural history components. Its importance and value, however, derive from the section and accompanying map devoted to the travels of Marquette and Joliet and the map showing the discoveries of Abel Tasman, and these are identical in both editions. The most notable aspect of Thevenot is that it contains the first publication of Father Marquette's relation of his discovery, with Joliet, of the upper Mississippi River and their exploration as far as the Arkansas River in 1673. This remarkable expedition established the basic structure of the Mississippi headwaters for the first time, and opened the way for the dominance of the French in the Mississippi Valley over the next century. Their account begins on May 17, 1673, when the party set out in two canoes from Mackinac. They reached the Mississippi via Green Bay and the Fox River on June 17, floated as far south as Arkansas, and returned north by way of the Illinois and Des Plaines rivers and the later site of Chicago. The accompanying map is a major landmark of American cartography, "Carte de la decouverte faite l'an 1673, dans l'Amerique Septentrionale." The map is the first to bear the word "Michigan," and shows the lake of that name and the Mississippi River from its headwaters to the sea. A figure appears in the center of the map, identified as "Manit8," representing an Indian god. The map appears here in its third state, as usual, with the date of 1673 in the title of the map. Burden convincingly asserts that the first and second states (known in only one copy each) were almost certainly proofs. This is one of the most important American frontier exploration narratives. Howes says: "The first edition of Thevenot's RECUEIL, while less rare than Le Clerq's PREMIER ETABLISSEMENT DE LA FOI, 1691, is of equal importance...." "The first printed representation of the Mississippi based on actual observation" - Streeter. The other sections of Thevenot's work are of considerable interest as well. The Tasman map is one of the first to show parts of the Australian coastline in detail, based on his 1644 voyage. It shows part of the coast of New Guinea, Tasmania, and much of the east coast of Australia, and is a basic work of Australian cartography. It is present here in its third issue, with the Tropic of Capricorn inserted and with the rhumblines. "In any state the map is a great rarity. It is one of the earliest charts devoted entirely to Australia, and is the first French map of Australia" - Davidson. There is also an account of explorations in polar regions by the Dutch in 1680, which is usually accompanied by a third map, an equipolar projection, which is lacking from this copy. The third exploration piece is an account of a trip overland from Russia to China in 1653. Finally, there is a discourse on navigation, and the natural history sections discussing the illustration of insects. A major work of Americana, with one of the landmark accounts and maps of the discovery of the Mississippi Valley. CHURCH 672. HARRISSE NOUVELLE FRANCE 147. SABIN 95332. WORLD ENCOMPASSED 211. STREETER SALE 101. SIEBERT SALE 659. HOWES T156, "c." EUROPEAN AMERICANA 681/141. BURDEN 540. CLEMENTS, 100 MICHIGAN RARITIES 4. GREENLY MICHIGAN 6. GRAFF 4122. JONES 320. TOOLEY, MAPPING OF AUSTRALIA AND ANTARCTICA, plate 92. Davidson, A BOOK COLLECTOR’S NOTES, pp.28-29. Less

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