Cosmographie, in four books. Containing the Chorographie & Historie of the whole World, and all the Principal Kingdoms, Provinces, Seas, and Isles thereof.

by Peter Heylyn. With an accurate and an approved Index of all the Kingdoms, Provinces, Countries, Inhabitants, People, Cities, Mountains, Rivers, Seas, Islands, Forts, Bays, Capes, Forests, &c. of any Remarque in the whole World; Much wanted and desired in the former, and now annexed to this last Impression, Revised and Corrected by the Author himself immediately before his death. London : Philip Chetwind, 1666. Third edition. Five parts in one volume, folio (360 x 235 mm), contemporary full polished calf ruled in blind (boards a little scratched and edge-worn), spine in compartments with elaborate gilt decoration and gilt-lettered title ‘Heylyn’s Cosmographie’ (raised bands somewhat worn, small loss to the leather at the foot); three title-leaves: 1. Engraved title-leaf with allegorical cartouches, London, Printed for Philip Chetwind in Aldersgate street over against New street, 1666. 2. Printed title-leaf in red and black, London, Printed for Philip Chetwind, Anno Dom. M.DC.LX.VI. and 3. Printed title-leaf in black, London, Printed for Philipp Chetwind, Anno Domini 1665, stating ‘The Third Edition’; pp. [16] (including titles), 28, [2] (separate title-leaf for The First Book, dated 1665), 31-356, [2] (separate title-leaf for The Second Book, dated 1665), 359-633, [2] (A Table of the Longitude and Latitude of the chief Towns and Cities Mentioned in this Book), [2] (separate title-leaf for The Third Book, dated 1665), 639-925, [1] (An Advertisement to the Reader touching the Errata of this part), [1] (A Table of the Longitude and Latitude of the chief Towns and Cities Mentioned in this Book), [1 blank], [2] (separate title-leaf for The fourth Book, Part I, dated 1662), 931-1007, [1] (A Table of the Longitude and Latitude of the chief Towns and Cities Mentioned in this Part), [2] (separate title-leaf for The Fourth Book, Part II, undated), 1011-1098, [2] (A Table of the Longitude and Latitude of the chief Towns and Cities Mentioned in this Second Part), [2] (separate title-leaf for An Appendix to the Former Work, endeavouring a discovery of the unknown parts of the World, especially of Terra Australis Incognita, or the Southern Continent, dated 1662), 1089-1095, [1 blank], [49], [1 blank]; 4 engraved folding maps with hand-coloured outlines (all dated 1666); pale water-stain to lower outer corners of most leaves (not affecting legibility in any way), otherwise clean and sound throughout, a very good example with generous margins, in a handsome contemporary binding.

The third, revised edition (first published in 1652) of the idiosyncratic geography of English cleric and historian Peter Heylyn (or Heylin, 1599-1662), a work recognised for containing some of the earliest discussions in print of Australia, California (as an island), Tierra del Fuego, and other parts of the New World. The four maps, each dated 1666, show the known continents. The separate titles for each of the four books and appendix are dated as follows: 1665, 1665, 1665, 1662, and 1662.

The all-important last section, which is titled An Appendix to the Former Work, endeavouring a discovery of the unknown parts of the World, especially of Terra Australis Incognita, or the Southern Continent, begins: ‘And here we are upon a new and strange Adventure, which no Knight Errant ever undertook before….’. Heylyn, assuming that the continent must be as large as the landmasses of the northern hemisphere combined, expresses surprise that so little is known about it. The voyages of navigators in the South Seas are described, including those of Magellan, Quiros, Le Maire and others, and there are brief accounts of Tierra del Fuego, the Solomons and New Guinea. Finally, Heylyn provides commentary on some of the early seventeenth-century utopian literature relating to Terra Australis Incognita, notably Joseph Hall’s Mundus alter et idem, Thomas More’s Utopia, and Francis Bacon’s New Atlantis.

Wing H-1691A