According to Dibdin the reader had only to inspect the “curious contents” of the first volume to realise that it is a work of great importance.
This is the second and best edition of Harris, which includes Emanuel Bowen’s important maps of Georgia and Australia. Both are present in fine condition.
“A New Map of Georgia, with Part of Carolina, Florida and Louisiana” extends from Charles Town to the Mississippi River and as far as Cape Canaveral. Its significance is enhanced by the inclusion of colonial forts (both French and English), settlements, and native villages. The chapter it accompanies, “The History of the Rise, Progress, and Present State of the Colony of Georgia” is also new to this edition.
Bowen’s other contribution, “A Complete Map of the Southern Continent Survey’d by Capt. Abel Tasman & depicted by order of the East india Company in Holland in the Stadt House at Amsterdam” is the first folio English map of Australia.
The second chapter includes voyages to India, Persia, Syria, the Persian Gulf, and Egypt.
“This is the revised and enlarged version of the 1705 first edition. [This] edition, especially prized for its maps, has been called the most complete by several authorities. Particularly valuable is the inclusion of Tasman’s original map and two short articles printed on the map. To the original extensive collection are added accounts completed since the first publication: Christopher Middleton to Hudson’s Bay, 1741-42; Bering to the Northeast, 1725-6; Woodes Roger’s circumnavigation, 1708-11; Clipperton and Shevlocke’s circumnavigation, 1719-22; Roggeveen to the Pacific, 1721-33; and the various travels of Lord Anson, 1740-44” (Hill).
Cox I, p10; Hill, 775; Lada-Mocarski 3; Sabin, 30483.
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