Search Results: a new survey of the west indias by gage thomas

London: R. Cotes, 1648.. [10],220,[12]pp. Small folio. 19th-century three-quarter red morocco and marbled boards, spine gilt. Bookplate of Edward Ayer on front pastedown. Light dampstaining to lower half of text. About very good. Important collector and bibliographer Edward Ayer's copy of the first edition of one of the most celebrated travel books of its day. Gage was an Englishman raised in Spain. He entered the Dominican Order and set out for the New World, traveling by way of the Philippines and across the Pacific. He spent most of the next twelve years in Central America, the West Indies, Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama. When he finally returned to England and converted to the Church of England, he wrote this book to urge British seizure of the Spanish empire in America. Since the Spanish had jealously guarded foreign access to their dominions, this was the first detailed description to reach Europe of the regions visited by Gage, and it was widely reprinted and translated. This copy… Read More