Search Results: Titles starting with A from Bruce Marshall Rare Books

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, [34], 417, [3]p., 42 engraved folding maps and plates, list of subscribers, final leaf of directions to the binder, occasional light foxing and offsetting, pp. 319 misnumbered as 219, contemporary catspaw calf, boards twice ruled in gilt, handsomely rebacked, spine gilt, red morocco label, 4to, London, for the Author by John and Paul Knapton, 1748
A MASTERPIECE OF DESCRIPTIVE TRAVEL - HillFirst edition of the most popular book of maritime adventure in the eighteenth century. This can be identified as the first of two issues by a misprinted page number (219 instead of 319) and the fact that the engraved plates are all in an early state before the addition of their identifying numbers. The narrative was based on Anson's own journal, along with notes by Richard Watler who was chaplain on the ship Centurion. George Anson entered the Navy during the War of Spanish Succession and spent the next decade rising through the ranks until 1722 when he was promoted to Commander and given… Read More

London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773,Contemporary full mottled calf gilt, a very attractive set.
FIRST EDITION, 3 volumes, 52 engraved plates, charts and maps (most folding or double-page, including "A Chart of the Straights of Magellan")
Volume I contains the voyages of Byron, Carteret and Wallis, with the discovery of Tahiti, and volumes II-III contain Hawkesworth's edited account of Lieutenant Cook's voyage (he was only promoted to Captain on his return). Cook's instructions for this first voyage were to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti and to carry on John Byron's survey and examination of the seas between Cape Horn and New Holland, but they did not extend to searching for Terra Australis. He did, however, add more than 5,000 miles of coastline to Admiralty charts for Tahiti, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, and New Zealand, which he circumnavigated.
[Beddie, BCJC 648; Hill (2004) 782; Sabin 30934]

Anno Regni GEORGII III REGIS Magnae Britaniiae, Franciae, & Hiberniae, DECIMO SEPTIMO. At the Parliament Begun and holden at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth Day of November, Anno Domini 1774, in the Fifteenth Year of our Sovereign Lord GEORGE the Third, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith.... FIRST EDITION, [4], 1039-1042 woodcut coat of arms on title, woodcut floriated initial, text in black letter, unbound, folio (320 x 200mm), London, Charles Eyre and William Strahan, 1777This important act emphasised the Government's dedication to improving general science and navigation by offering rewards to those who could find an accurate method for determining longitude at sea. The first Longitude Act of 1714 was Parliament's response to the loss of 2,000 lives in 1707, when four British navy ships ran aground after miscalculating the longitude. The Act offered prize money of £10,000 (reduced from £20,000) for a reliable and accurate method of determining… Read More

Mexico City, 9th day of March,1573, size 450 x 320mm
SIR FRANCIS DRAKE'S ENGLISH PIRATES
Arrest Warrant For English Pirates Signed By The First Inquisitor of New Spain in 1573
Remarkable arrest warrant, signed by the Inquisitor of New Spain, directing the arrest and capture of 5 accused heretics, including two English Pirates, who had recently completed a daring jail break from prison in Mexico City.
This is an official arrest warrant, dated March 9, 1573, ordered by Pedro Moya de Contreras (c. 1528-1591), first inquisitor of the newly founded Mexican Inquisition, addressed to Don Alonso Sánchez de Miranda, Dean of Guadalajara.
Moya de Contreras arrived in New Spain in 1571, as the newly appointed inquisitor, thereafter rising to the office of Archbishop of Mexico City and finally Viceroy of New Spain (1584-1585). This two-fold letter is part of the legacy of the Inquisition in the New World, aimed at ecclesiastical authorities and their flock to raise awareness of the rampant menace of Lutheran… Read More