Algemeine [sic] Geschichte der Lander und Volker von America. Erster [-Zweiter] Theil. Nebst einer Vorreder Siegmund Jacob Baumgartens

Two volumes. The First Edition. 4to; vol. I: [2],ff, pp. [24], [2], [16], 688 & vol. II: 1 f. pp. [20], 905 [i.e. 907], [63] (Register); with 68 copper-engraved plates and maps, viz., frontispiece, map of the Americas, and 41 numbered engraved plates in vol. I; two large folding engraved maps of North and South America, folding map of the Atlantic and the eastern seaboard north to Labrador, and 22 engraved plates (several folding); dedication in vol. I with engraved vignette and opening initial, woodcut and typographic headpieces, tailpieces and initials throughout, in continental full vellum, text edges blue-stained, pencilled comments in German on final blank of each volume; neat repair to verso of folds in two maps (no loss); light foxing and browning throughout; overall, an extremely good set of a fairly scarce work.(cgc). Sabin 38594 and 77989. Howes S-200. Borba de Moraes I.-386. Holzmann-Bohatta, Deutsches Anonymen-Lexicon, H-6826; Baginsky, German Works relating to America, 341," Bell, S-19]. An encyclopaedic compilation of eighteenth-century. The compiler and translator, Johann Friedrich Schroter (1710-1788) was secretary to the Privy Council of Magdeburg, and had served for a number of years as a missionary in Canada. Much of Part I is devoted to a German translation of Lafitau's "Moeurs des sauvages. " of 1724 and of the chronological overview of the discoveries of the New World from Charlevoix's "Histoire et description générale. " of 1744. Charlevoix's descriptions of New France and Louisiana are summarized in Part H, as is a section on the West Indies which draws from the same author's "Histoire de l 'Isle Espagnole. of 1730-3]. It also includes a complete translation of the 175] edition of Charles Leslie's "New and Exact Account of Jamaica" of I739. Also included are works on Mexico, Peru and the Incas, Chile, and Greenland, compiled from a variety of accounts including Schwabe and Juan & Ulloa. Baumgarten's prefaces amount to a detailed analytical bibliography of American travel literature from the earliest chronicles to the time of publication, giving the publication history and translations of over one hundred and fifty works, including format, number of parts, and a summary of the contents. An erudite and comprehensive work on North and South American travel accounts. …