Curiosities of the Royal Library at Dresden

468.) Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes. Contayning a History of the World, in Sea Voyages, & Lande - Travells, by Englishmen & others... In fower Parts. Each containing five Bookes. By Samuel Purchas. Imprinted at London by William Stansby, for Henry Fetherston 1625. folio. 4 volumes, total pages 4019.

Lambecius testifies in the appendix of the eighth part of his Commentarr. de Bibliotheca Cæsar. Vindobon. Commentaries on the Imperial Library at Vienna that this book had not yet come to his attention. We can very well draw a conclusion from this about its rarity; which is proven even more because little from the pieces contained here has flowed into the newest collections of travels. This precious work is abundantly provided with land maps, copper engravings, and woodcuts. It is intended to be a continuation of the Hakluyt collection of English travels, but also comprises the travels of other peoples, and contains many ingenious and learned treatises. Each volume is divided into 5 books, or to speak better, two volumes always comprise 10 books. Thus the first book deals with the travels of the ancient kings, patriarchs, apostles, sages, and others,

and contains within it whole tracts on the various languages, divine services, and the condition of the Christian religion. The second book is a description of all travels around the world. In the third stand the travels of the English along the coast of Africa, to the Cape of Good Hope, into the Red Sea, into Abyssinia, Arabia, Persia, India. In the fourth, their travels over the East Indies, to Japan, China, Cochinchina, and the Philippine Islands; where the treachery of the Turks, the hostility of the Portuguese, the faithlessness of the Moors and Heathens, the malice of the Germans or Dutch is dealt with, and the English nation and its commerce are defended against ignorance and slander. The fifth book comprises the travels of the English by water and by land, their commerce, and discoveries in the eastern parts