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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
Gemelli Careri, Giovanni Francesco (1651-1725) A Voyage Round the World.
[London: John Waltoe, 1732.]
Folio, illustrated with 6 folding engravings, 4 full-page (one with plates on both sides of the same sheet); and 3 text engravings; contents very nicely preserved; bound in later half sheep with marbled paper boards; 13 3/4 x 9 in.
Gemelli Careri travelled for pleasure, and made his own world tour by hitching rides on merchant vessels and joining overland trade routes. In this way he set out first for Turkey and Iran (Persia). From there he headed east on land and made his way into Southern India and China. In China he describes a Shangyuna Festival (Cap go Meh), held on the 15th day of the first lunisolar month, usually in mid- to late-February. In this delightful spectacle, children launch paper lanterns and solve riddles, and everyone feasts on holiday delicacies. He also visited the Great Wall. After departing by way of Macau, and traveling again by sea, he visited the Philippines, and then from there journeyed all the way across the Pacific on a 6-month trans-oceanic trek to Mexico. Gemelli Careri toured in Mexico as well and relates what he has learned supplemented by illustrations. He saw Teotihuacan, Puebla de Los Angeles, and Veracruz. He ultimately caught a ride with the Spanish fleet and returned to Italy by way of Cuba. The whole trip took five years to complete.
