London W. Strahan & T. Cadell 1778 Two large quarto volumes (8.5" x 10.6875"); [8], 510; [8], 589, [1] pages. Complete with half-title in... More

London W. Strahan & T. Cadell 1778 Two large quarto volumes (8.5" x 10.6875"); [8], 510; [8], 589, [1] pages. Complete with half-title in Volume II (no half-title called for in Volume I). Contemporary calf, rebacked, with original gilt spines and morocco labels laid down. Corners renewed. First published in 1776, this Second Edition is scarcer than the first with only 500 copies printed and is the only other edition published in quarto format. "The second edition exhibits a number of alterations large and small, some providing new information, some correcting matters of fact, some perfecting the idiom, and a large number now documenting references in footnotes" (William B. Todd, in the 1976 Oxford edition of THE WEALTH OF NATIONS). Adam Smith (1723-1790) spent ten years in the writing and perfecting of THE WEALTH OF NATIONS. The book succeeded at once, and the first edition was exhausted in six months. Goldsmith 11663; Grolier, 100 English, 57; KressB 154; PRINTING AND THE MIND OF MAN 221: "The certainty of its criticism and its grasp of human nature have made it the first and greatest classic of modern economic thought." Armorial bookplate of Gorham Parsons on the front pastedown of each volume. Some foxing and browning, heavier in the first volume which has the front free endpaper and the title strengthened at inner and outer margins. Occasional slight offsetting to the text in the second volume which has the final gathering strengthened in the gutter. Very Good set in a contemporary binding Less

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London: [Eliot's Court Press] for George Bishop, 1609.. [16],307pp. plus folding engraved map (9 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches). Small quarto. Modern dark... More

London: [Eliot's Court Press] for George Bishop, 1609.. [16],307pp. plus folding engraved map (9 1/4 x 19 1/4 inches). Small quarto. Modern dark green morocco, gilt boards and spine, a.e.g., gilt dentelles. Bound by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Upper outer joint slightly tender. Bookplates of Boies Penrose on front pastedown ("Ex Libris Boies Penrose II") and front free endpaper ("Old East India House Ex Libris Boies Penrose"). Slight age-toning throughout. First leaf (blank save for a single fleuron) in facsimile, a few small repairs to titlepage and first two preliminary leaves (affecting a few letters). Repaired minor tear across lower border of map. A very good copy. The rare first English edition of this premier source for the history of Canada, published the same year as the French first edition, complete with the first contemporary and detailed map of Canada. Lescarbot was a French writer and lawyer who spent the winter of 1606-7 at Port Royal, Acadia. He gives accounts of early French voyages and discoveries in America such as those of Villegagnon to Brazil, Verrazzano, Ribaut and Laudonni? to Florida, Champlain, sieurs de Poutrincourt and de Monts, Cartier, and Roberval. Also included is much information concerning the Indian tribes, especially those of northeastern Canada, to whom the second book in this English edition is devoted. Much of the material Lescarbot collected himself, interviewing members of the early expeditions and recording his own observations and experiences. Field, in describing the first French edition, states: "His descriptions of Indian Life and peculiarities are very interesting, an account both of their fidelity, and from being among the first authentic relations, we have of them after Cartier." As with so many important works on American published in English in this era, the author, translator, and scholar Richard Hakluyt played a role in the publication of the English edition of Lescarbot. The translator Pierre Erondelle states in the introduction that Hakluyt had asked him to translate the work both to describe Canada and also "for the particular use of this nation, to the end that comparing the goodness of lands of the northern parts herein mentioned with that of Virginia, which...must be far better by reason it stands more southerly nearer to the sun; greater encouragement may be given to prosecute that generous and goodly action." Thus accounts of Canada, in Hakluyt's reckoning, would enhance the promotional materials of the Virginia Company, then being published in London. The large map, "Figure de la Terre Neuue, Grand Riviere de Canada, et C? de l'Ocean en la Novvelle France," was also issued with the first French edition, and is considered the most accurate cartographic representation of the area at the time. "The map extends up the St. Lawrence River as far as the Indian village Hochelaga, or Montreal as we know it. The first trading post in Canada, founded in 1600 at Tadousac, is shown at the mouth of the R. de Saguenay and just next to that is the River Lesquemin mistakenly named in reverse. Kebec is shown here for the first time on a printed map in its Micmac form, meaning the narrows of the river" - Burden. The rare English translation of an early significant history of Canada, with the most accurate contemporary map of the region. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 609/68. SABIN 40175. CHURCH 341. VAIL 16. HARRISSE NOUVELLE FRANCE 19. BORBA DE MORAES, pp.406-7. FIELD 916. STC 15491. SCHWARTZ & EHRENBERG, pp.88-90. BURDEN 157 (map). McCORKLE, NEW ENGLAND IN EARLY PRINTED MAPS 609.1 (map). PAYNE, RICHARD HAKLUYT, 22. Less

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1737 Regensburg, H. Lentzen [vol 4: H.G. Neubauer], 1737-45. 4 volumes and 1 index volume. Folio (382 x 250mm). With four engraved titles in red... More

1737 Regensburg, H. Lentzen [vol 4: H.G. Neubauer], 1737-45. 4 volumes and 1 index volume. Folio (382 x 250mm). With four engraved titles in red and black, one mezzotint frontispiece and two mezzotint portraits, and 1025 (a few double-page) engraved plates, some in mezzotint, the etched plates hand-coloured, the mezzotints printed in colours and finished by hand. Contemporary uniform calf, richly gilt decorated spines in 7 compartments with red gilt lettered label, sides with gilt ornamented border and gilt corner pieces. First edition. A very fine copy bound in a very attractive contemporary German binding. Described by the Hunt catalogue as the first botanical book to utilise colour-printed mezzotint successfully. It also contains Georg Dionysus Ehret's first published botanical illustrations (although unsigned). Ehret served his apprenticeship as a botanical draughtsman under Weinmann who exploited him mercilessly, paying him a pittance for several hundred drawings he did for the 'Phythanthoza'. This led to a falling out between the two, which is perhaps why Ehret is nowhere acknowledged in the book. His drawings were engraved by Bartholom Less

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