The Totall Discourse, of the Rare Adventures, and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland, to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica. Perfited by Three Deare Bought Voyages, in Surveighing of Forty Eight Kingdomes Ancient and Moderne; Twenty One Rei-publickes, Ten Absolute Principalities, with Two Hundred Ilands. The Particular Names Whereof, are Described in Each Argument of the Ten Divisions of this History: and it also Divided in Three Bookes; Two Whereof, Never Heretofore Published. Wherein is Contayned, an Exact Relation, of the Lawes, Religion, Policies, and Government of all their Princes, Potentates, and People. Together with the Grievous Tortures he Suffered, by the Inquisition of M

Beschreibung

First collected edition of Lithgow's chief work, "a book of uncommon value and interest, for its descriptions of men and manners even more than of places" (DNB). The author "cuts an eccentric figure even in the company of other early-seventeenth-century British travellers" (Speake). William Lithgow (1582-1645?) travelled extensively across Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East on three journeys between 1609 and 1629. He claimed to have walked some 58,000 kilometres (almost one and a half times the Earth's circumference). The intrepid Scotsman published his travels in 1614, 1616, and 1623; this expanded edition includes descriptions of his second and third tours. "His adventures include being assailed in Libya, beset in Moldavia, and being arrested and tortured as a spy in Malaga. He bathed in the River Jordan, visited the holy shrines and took home a few souvenirs including 'a pair of Garters of the Holy Grave, all richly wrought in Silk and Gold' for presentation to Queen Anne, wife of James I. Embedded in his euphuistic narrative are the first reports of such novelties as coffee-drinking in Europe, Turkish baths, the Aleppo-Baghdad pigeon post, artificial incubation, and Turkish tobacco pipes" (Howgego). "Christian-Muslim themes abound in the book. [including] a short account of the main features of the Islamic faith and a critical though not very original depiction of the life of Muhammad, which incorporates elements familiar from late medieval Christian polemics" (Thomas, pp. 233-4). His stories include enriching himself from the bodies of two barons who mutually killed each other in a duel, capturing a pirate ship, his companions dying of thirst in the desert, and various near-death experiences. Since the only proof for many of his tall tales is his own word, it is clear that he still followed early modern traditions of myth-making in travel writing. The Totall Discourse "is lively and opinionated, as Lithgow mixes astute observations with dogmatic self-righteousness. Despite his views, he obviously made acquaintances on his travels and was able to extract information from useful local sources. His style is often ornate, perhaps as an attempt to compensate for his relatively humble origins with his metropolitan English readership. But Lithgow, at his best, has an eye and ear for the ordinary details that mark out different cultures" (Speake). ESTC S108574; Howgego L134; Speake II, p. 729. C. Edmund Bosworth, An intrepid Scot: William Lithgow of Lanark's Travels in the Ottoman Lands, North Africa and Central Europe, 1609-1621, 2017. David Thomas, Christian-Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History, vol. 8, 2011. Quarto (190 x 132 mm): A-3V4; 264 leaves. Integral woodcut frontispiece, repeated on S2v, and 7 further illustrations, woodcut headpieces and initials. Contemporary sprinkled calf, sometime rebacked with original spine laid down, smooth spine with brown morocco label, covers ruled in blind, edges sprinkled red. Illegible signature on front free endpaper dated 1837; bookplate of one George Harwood on front pastedown; old pen underlining on 2Z2; later pencil annotations to rear pastedown. Corners and board edges judiciously repaired, small tidemark to head of preliminary leaves (not touching printed area), minor soiling to 3M1: a very good copy.

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Titel

The Totall Discourse, of the Rare Adventures, and Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland, to the Most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia, and Affrica. Perfited by Three Deare Bought Voyages, in Surveighing of Forty Eight Kingdomes Ancient and Moderne; Twenty One Rei-publickes, Ten Absolute Principalities, with Two Hundred Ilands. The Particular Names Whereof, are Described in Each Argument of the Ten Divisions of this History: and it also Divided in Three Bookes...

Verlag

London: Nicholas Okes, and are to be sold by Nicholas Fussell and Humphery [sic] Mosley, 1632