Purchas his Pilgrimes.: In five bookes… [together with] Purchas his Pilgrimage.

London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone,, 1625-26. One of the fullest and most important collections of voyages in the English language First edition of Purchas his Pilgrimes, with the preferred, greatly enlarged, fourth edition of the Pilgrimage; together this is the desired state of the complete set of Purchas's remarkable collection of travel and exploration narratives from ancient times up to and including the recent accounts of Virginia by John Smith. This is a most attractive set. The Pilgrimes was conceived as a continuation of the work of Richard Hakluyt - Purchas's "great predecessor in the memorializing of English travel narratives" (ODNB) - based in part on Hakluyt's remaining manuscripts, which Purchas had acquired about 1620, augmented by almost 20 years' collecting oral and written accounts of travels in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas. Although, as ODNB notes, "unlike Hakluyt, Purchas attempted to construct an argument upon geographical and historical evidence that was cosmopolitan, pan-European, global, and transhistorical... John Locke even-handedly advised in 1703 that for 'books of travel... the collections made by our countrymen, Hakluyt and Purchas, are very good'". "Today, Pilgrimes remains an indispensable resource for geographers, anthropologists, and historians alike, providing, among other things, prime sources for the early history of the Jamestown colony, and perhaps the best defence ever composed to justify England's claims to North America" (Kelly, p. 985). The four-volume folio took over three years to print; at the time of its publication, it was the largest book ever seen through the English press and was entrusted to the highly experienced William Stansby, whose establishment was probably the second largest in London after the royal printing house. Stansby was responsible for a number of works by leading figures of the age, including Ben Jonson's Workes (1616) and books by John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Bacon. The engraved title page of Pilgrimes is a rare, finely engraved facsimile of the original, which, as usual, is absent here. It was made by John Swaine (1775-1860) in 1846 and was presumably inserted when the set was attractively rebacked in the late nineteenth century. Swaine is "best known for his facsimile prints after contemporary and old master works, particularly Marten Droeshout's portrait of William Shakespeare, William Faithorne's portrait of Thomas Stanley, and David Loggan's frontispiece to the Book of Common Prayer. His painstaking and accurate workmanship was admired by many" (ODNB). The map of Virginia in volume IV is in the tenth state according to Verner, just shaved at the head (it is often trimmed more noticeably). The Pilgrimage is the fourth edition, issued concurrently as a supplement and it has the points for the usual issue: the first quire reset, the title beginning "Purchas" (the other setting has "Purchase"), and the added dedication to King Charles. First published in 1613, the Pilgrimage gives Purchas's account of the various religions encountered throughout the world, but in this edition includes Sir Jerome Horsey's account of Russia, William Methold's "A Relation of Golconda", a "brilliant account of that part of India" (ODNB), and the translation by Thomas van Erpe (also known as Erpenius) of a history of the Saracens by the 13th century Christian Coptic historian Jirjis al-Makin Ibn al-'Amid (anglicized here as George Elmacin). Provenance: F. Hobill Cole MD, collector, with his bookplate; Sir Tom Ramsay (b. 1907), son of William Ramsay who created "Kiwi" shoe polish, with his neat blind stamp to preliminary blanks; Fred. Z. Eager, motor sport enthusiast and managing director of E. A. Eager & Son Limited, a Queensland car dealership, with his neat blind stamp to preliminary blanks. Together Five volumes (the supplemental Pilgrimage comprising the fifth volume), folio (317 x 2o5 mm). Early 19th-century calf, skilfully rebacked in the late 19th century, richly gilt spines, red morocco twin labels, sides with border of paired gilt fillets enclosing a central frame comprised of blind and gilt fillets joined at the corners by foliate sprigs, blind palmette cornerpieces, gilt edge roll, Shell pattern marbled endpapers. Engraved additional title page to vol. I (the fine engraved facsimile of the original made by John Swaine in 1846, with the date some time erased), 88 engraved maps (7 double-page or folding: the Virginia map in volume IV, which has been laid down, in Verner's state 10; 81 half-page in the text), numerous illustrations, mostly woodcut, but some engraved. Neat bookseller's ticket of A. H. Spencer, Melbourne, Australia, on each front pastedown. Bindings professionally refurbished with particular attention to spine ends and joints, retouching of gilt in places, repair to top fore corner of preliminary blank in vol. I, a few skilful paper repairs, minor small stains, occasional marginal worming, short tears to some folded maps. A very good set, with the medial blank R4 in vol. I and the terminal colophon leaf in vol. II. Alden & Landis 625/173; Borba de Moraes II, pp. 692-3; Church 401A; Hill 1403; Sabin 66682-6; STC 20509 & 20508.5; Streeter I 36. James William Kelly in Speake, ed., Literature of Travel and Exploration, 2003; Coolie Verner, "The First Maps of Virginia, 1590-1673", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 58, no. 1, January, 1950.