Grane Pierre Dralse (1 results)

Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. An unknown first issue of a famed French voyage 8vo, (167 x 95 mm). 1 [blank], 5 ff., 352 pp., 1 [blank]. Contemporary calf, simple fillets to spine, raised bands to spine, elaborately tooled in gilt, red lettering piece, lower compartment with loss of leather, restored. Some leaves toned, scattered foxing but overall in excellent condition. True first edition, an unknown issue, printed one year before what is considered to be the first edition (1718), with a slightly different title page in design and text, most likely a proof sent to the author. According to OCLC, no copy of this 1717 edition is known institutionally, neither were we able to locate it in the standard reference sources. The book is a compilation of the travels of Drasle to America, Africa, Indonesia and the Pacific: he addressed the richness of the territory, its commerce, etc., and account of a naval combat against the British, moves on to his capture by the English, his stay in Martinique, and then on to Africa and Mexico. Provenance: engraved bookplate on front pastedown "Ex libris D. D. Le Tellier de Courtanvaux", and stamp on last page "M. de Courtanvaux". Sabin 28273 (for the 1718 edition); Alden & Landis 718/48 (again for the 1718 edition). …