America.- Vaughan (William) The Golden Fleece, 3 parts in 1, first edition, woodcut decorations and initials, folding map supplied in facsimile, woodcut initial V on first page of part 2 printed upside-down, occasional soiling, later calf, gilt, gilt cypher of the Dukes of Devonshire at head of spine, lacking spine label, joints starting, [STC 24609; Church 409; Sabin 98693], 4to, Printed for Francis Williams, 1626.

⁂ First edition of one of the earliest contributions to English literature from America. "William Vaughan (1575 or 1577-1641), was a Welsh poet and colonial promoter. Vaughan endeavored in 1617 to found a colony in Newfoundland, where he spent several years. Wishing to obtain more settlers, he wrote this allegory in praise of his colony, in which truth and fiction are mixed to such an extent that the reader of the present day can hardly separate the one from the other.... The map by Captain John Mason, who spent seven years in the country, is very rarely found with the book." (Church)