Apr 09, 2015 - Sale 2379
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Sale 2379 - Lot 323

Price Realized: $ 32,500
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 30,000 - $ 50,000
PURCHAS, SAMUEL. Purchas His Pilgrimes. 5 (of 6) folding or double-page engraved maps (Mughal Empire, Greenland, China, North America, Virginia); lacks the map of New England/Canada. Also lacking the engraved additional title in Volume 1 and initial blank in Volumes 3 and 4. 4 volumes * Purchas His Pilgrimage. Double-page engraved map of China. Together, 5 volumes. Folio, 324x213 mm, mid-19th-century gilt-lettered cloth with spines partly numbered out of order, small hole at top of Volume 2 spine; heavy foxing at beginning and end of the first 3 volumes of Purchas His Pilgrimes, light to moderate foxing elsewhere, unobtrusive marginal pencil markings throughout; for further condition details see below. Signet Library bookplate on front pastedowns, their ownership inscription in blank gutter of titles. London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1625; 1626
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Additional Details

first edition of the main work, "one of the fullest and most important collections of voyages and travels in the English language" (Church), with part of the third and all of the fourth volume devoted to the New World. "It was based in part on Hakluyt's remaining manuscripts, which Purchas had acquired about 1620 . . . The result was a four-volume folio that took more than three years to print; at the time of its publication it was the largest book ever seen through the English press" (ODNB). Included as a supplement is the fourth edition of the 1613 Purchas His Pilgrimage, the first comprehensive study of the diversity of world religions, of which pages 791-967 concern the Americas. Alden 625/173, 626/101; Church 401A; 1403; STC 20509, 20508.5.

Purchas His Pilgrimes. London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1625.

Volume 1: Folding map of the Mughal Empire; 13 maps in text. [34] (of [38]), 186, [10], 468, 479-642, 645-748, [24] pages, including blank R4; lacks initial blank and engraved additional title. First state of G3r (with planispheric rather than double-hemispheric world map), gathering 2T (with incorrect pagination), and 4M4v (with headline "Hollanders lying devices, to disgrace the English" etc.). Folding map possibly supplied from another copy, with blank lower margin excised, rust hole in 2X2 affecting a few letters, minor tape repair on blank verso of last leaf.

Volume 2: 7 text illustrations; 24 maps in text. [4], 749-857, 860-1270, 1269-1860, [40] pages. Light dampstaining in upper inner corners through much of volume.

Volume 3: Double-page maps of Greenland, China, and North America. [26] (of [28]), 668, 699-1006, 1009-1140, [68] pages; lacks initial blank. Minor tape repair on 3V1v, 4K2 creased in lower outer corner, gathering 4Z (with Mexican chronicle text and illustrations) possibly supplied from another copy with portions excised and restored causing text and image loss, last 2 index leaves dampstained.

Volume 4: Double-page map of Virginia in Verner's state 9; lacks the map of New England/Canada; 2 maps in text. [6] (of [8]), 1141-1234, 1237-1973 , [41] pages; lacks initial blank. Tape repair across 5H1r, Virginia map possibly supplied from another copy, trimmed close entering plate mark along top and bottom with partial loss of numbers at top.

Purchas His Pilgrimage. London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1626. Double-page map of China. [38] (of [40]), 242, 241-636, 635-1047, [36] pages, with dedication to King Charles; lacks initial blank.