GAGE THOMAS The English American his Travail by Sea and Land

Sale 2380 - Lot 300

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GAGE, THOMAS. The English-American his Travail by Sea and Land; or, A New Survey of the West-Indias. [8], 220, [12] pages. Small folio, later 1/2 morocco, moderate wear; rehinged, minor marginal worming. London: R. Cotes, 1648

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first edition of a singular and important travel narrative. Gage was an English Catholic who went to Spain and became ordained as a Dominican priest. Although foreigners were forbidden from travelling to the Spanish colonies, a group of Dominicans helped smuggle him in a barrel to Mexico in 1625. He ended up as a missionary in Guatemala, and desiring to return to Europe, fled in 1637 without permission from the order. In England, he abandoned Catholicism, became an Anglican, and published this book. It was the first original account of the Spanish colonies by an Englishman, and would remain so for many years. It also offered detailed advice for an English invasion of the colonies. This advice was heeded when the English captured Jamaica in 1655; Gage accompanied the army and died there the following year. "He appears to have been a believer in witchcraft and sorcery, and admits into his work many curious relations on those subjects"--Sabin 26298. European Americana 648/68; Hill 665; Palau 96480.