AMERICA: BEING THE LATEST, AND MOST ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW WORLD CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL OF THE INHABITANTS, AND THE REMARKABLE VOYAGES THITHER…COLLECTED FROM MOST AUTHENTICK AUTHORS, AUGMENTED WITH LATER OBSERVATIONS AND ADORN'D WITH MAPS AND SCULPTURES, BY JOHN OGILBY.

Ogilby, John: [Moxon, James]: [Montanus, Arnoldus]:

Edité par London: Printed by the Author, 1671.

A propos de cet article

The Botfield copy of the first English translation (or, as Sabin puts it, "impudent plagiarism") of Arnoldus Montanus' justly celebrated compilation on the New World. This is the rare issue containing James Moxon's map of the newly established colony of Carolina the first large-format map of that portion of America. Montanus's narrative, first published in Dutch the same year as Ogilby's translation, contains a wealth of interesting maps and illustrations of the entire Western Hemisphere, accompanied by in-depth and occasionally lurid descriptions of nearly the entire New World. This is the first edition, second issue of the work, with the Arx Carolina and Virginia pars Australis plates replaced by the Lord Proprietors map and an additional map of Barbados, but without the updated list of plates. The Moxon map of Carolina, printed in 1672 and added to some copies of Ogilby's America as here, was preceded only by the much smaller and relatively simple maps by Robert Horne (1666), John Lederer (1672), and Richard Blome (1672), and would come to be known as The First Lords Proprietors Map, with a second Lords Proprietors Map appearing in 1682. The map covers the region of North and South Carolina from the James River in present-day Virginia to St. Augustine in present-day Florida, and includes an inset of the site of Charleston on the Ashley and Cooper Rivers. Cartographic elements include sea banks or shoals, soundings, some topographical details, degrees of latitude, compass rose, scale, and location of rivers and settlements. The decorative cartouches include scenes with indigenous Americans wearing furs and feathered headdresses, and holding spears, club, and bow. The North American section of the text provides details of geography, local flora and fauna, and native peoples, supplemented by numerous illustrations as well as notable versions of the Blaeu map of New England and New Netherland as well as a version of the John Smith Virginia map. In addition to the extensive chapters on the United States and Latin America, there are sections dedicated to "Canada, or New France," Acadia, and Nova Scotia. Among the engravings in the text is one of the first engraved views of New York (the very first, the Van der Donck view, appeared twenty years earlier). Appropriately, Ogilby has augmented his unauthorized translation of Montanus' text with additional passages apparently of his own devising, primarily related to the British colonies in North America. These new passages include considerable descriptions of the production of tobacco in America, and its booming commercial trade in England. The remainder of the text features many other beautiful engravings, including views of cities and scenes of Mexico and the Caribbean, while the third part of the volume is devoted largely to Brazil. This specially bound copy belonged to Beriah Botfield (1807 1863), with his family crest and motto ("J'ai bonne cause") stamped on both boards. Botfield was a member of Parliament representing Shropshire as well as an accomplished scientist and bibliographer. Much of his collection of early books, including the present volume, was bequeathed to the Marquess of Bath in his will, and remained in the family until the Longleat House library was sold by Christie's in 2002. A noteworthy copy of an important and attractive early compilation on America, with the important Lord Proprietors map of the southeastern United States. "Though a mere translation of Montanus, Ogilby unblushingly claims authorship and never mentions Montanus. Piracy at this period was not confined to the high seas" Howes. ARENTS 315A. BAER MARYLAND 70A-C (ref). BORBA DE MORAES, p.626 (ref). CHURCH 613. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 671/204-207 (ref). HOWES O41, "b." JCB III:227-228. SABIN 50089. STOKES VI, p.262 (ref). Katherine S. Van Eerde, John Ogilby and the Taste of His Times (Folkeston: William Dawson, 1976), p.107. WING O-165. Carolina map: CUMMING, SOUTHEAST IN EARLY MAPS 70. DEGREES OF LA.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: AMERICA: BEING THE LATEST, AND MOST ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW WORLD CONTAINING THE ORIGINAL OF THE INHABITANTS, AND THE REMARKABLE VOYAGES THITHER…COLLECTED FROM MOST AUTHENTICK AUTHORS, AUGMENTED WITH LATER OBSERVATIONS AND ADORN'D WITH MAPS AND SCULPTURES, BY JOHN OGILBY.
• Éditeur: London: Printed by the Author, 1671.
• Édition: Edition originale