Catalog Archive
Auction 152, Lot 781

"[3 Volumes] A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time",

Subject: History Books

Period: 1811 (published)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
5.4 x 8.6 inches
13.7 x 21.8 cm
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These are the first three volumes from Robert Kerr's 18-volume set on the history of exploration. According to the author, the book attempts "a systematic arrangement of voyages and travels, from the earliest period of authentic history to the present time…" The entire set is divided into five parts, with the first three volumes covering all of part one entitled "Voyages and Travels of Discovery in the Middle Ages; from the Era of Alfred, King of England, in the Ninth Century, to that of Don Henry of Portugal at the Commencement of the Fourteenth Century", and two books from part two including "History of the Discoveries of the Portuguese along the Coast of Africa, and of their Discovery of and Conquests in India, from 1412 to 1505" and "History of the Discovery of America, and of some of the Early Conquests in the New World." Included within these volumes are the following seven maps:

Volume 1 (512 pp.):
Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean (9.5 x 7.3").
Map of the Western Part of Tartary & Adjacent Countries (8.9 x 7.3").
Map of the Eastern Part of Tartary & Adjacent Countries (9.3 x 7.3").

Volume 2 (524 pp.):
Chart of North Western Africa (4.3 x 7.3").
Chart of South Western Africa (4.3 x 7.3").

Volume 3 (503 pp.):
West Indies (10.5 x 7.3").
Sketch of Mexico and Its Environs (4.3 x 6.8").

Octavo, rebound in faux quarter leather with tips over olive cloth boards with gilt titles on spines.

References:

Condition: A

Maps are very good to near fine with faint offsetting. Text is mostly clean and bright. New bindings are excellent with minor shelf wear.

Estimate: $400 - $500

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Closed on 2/18/2015

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