Description

America.- [Soto (Hernando de)] Virginia richly valued, By the description of the maine land of Florida, her next neighbour, first edition in English, translated by Richard Hakluyt, woodcut initials and decorations, slight worming to margins of first half of book with repairs, sometimes affecting side-notes, margins of last couple of leaves repaired also with slight loss of side-notes, headline of penultimate leaf trimmed, modern calf, [Sabin 24896; STC 22938; Church 337; Vail Frontier 13], small 4to, Printed by Felix Kyngston, 1609.

First English edition of one of the great narratives of American exploration and one of the earliest printed books relating to Texas. First printed in Portuguese at Evora in 1557, this translation by Richard Hakluyt is one of his rarest works and was undertaken in order to persuade potential emigrants to the new colony of Virginia. De Soto's expedition took in the Florida coast before crossing Georgia to the Savannah River, down the Alabama River to the Mississippi before proceeding to Oklahoma. They returned along the Arkansas hoping to reach the Gulf but, finding only the Mississippi again, they ventured across the Texas plains to the Brazos River and, despairing of managing an overland route to Mexico, they returned once more to the Mississippi and proceeded down-river to the Gulf on rafts.

Lot 74

America.- Soto (Hernando de) Virginia richly valued, By the description of the maine land of Florida, her next neighbour, first edition in English, translated by Richard Hakluyt, Printed by Felix Kyngston, 1609.  

Hammer Price: £38,000

Description

America.- [Soto (Hernando de)] Virginia richly valued, By the description of the maine land of Florida, her next neighbour, first edition in English, translated by Richard Hakluyt, woodcut initials and decorations, slight worming to margins of first half of book with repairs, sometimes affecting side-notes, margins of last couple of leaves repaired also with slight loss of side-notes, headline of penultimate leaf trimmed, modern calf, [Sabin 24896; STC 22938; Church 337; Vail Frontier 13], small 4to, Printed by Felix Kyngston, 1609.

First English edition of one of the great narratives of American exploration and one of the earliest printed books relating to Texas. First printed in Portuguese at Evora in 1557, this translation by Richard Hakluyt is one of his rarest works and was undertaken in order to persuade potential emigrants to the new colony of Virginia. De Soto's expedition took in the Florida coast before crossing Georgia to the Savannah River, down the Alabama River to the Mississippi before proceeding to Oklahoma. They returned along the Arkansas hoping to reach the Gulf but, finding only the Mississippi again, they ventured across the Texas plains to the Brazos River and, despairing of managing an overland route to Mexico, they returned once more to the Mississippi and proceeded down-river to the Gulf on rafts.

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