The Marchants Mapp of Commerce

London: printed for Ralphe Mabb, 1638, First Edition, " The Marchants Mapp of Commerce. Necesarie for all such as shal be Imployed in the publique afaires of Princes in foraine partes. For all gentlemen & others that travell abroade for delight & plesure. And for all marchants or their factores that Exercise the Arts off Marchandiseinge in any Parte of ye habitable World. Folio 10 7/8 x 7 1/8 inches. Engraved title after Cornelius van Dalen, engraved portrait frontiespice of the author by G. Glover, 1 double -hemisphere engraved map of the world by Robert Vaughan, 4 full-page engraved maps of the continents by Henricus Hondius. Contemporary dark brown morocco, covers paneled with double fillets, with stylized foliage volutes and flower-head corner pieces and a central lozenge composed from the same tools, the spine tooled with twenty pairs of equally-spaced gilt fillets tooled horizontally, gilt edges, spine rebacked with original spine laid down, ties laking. Provenance: Lord Sandriz (signature) Frank S. Streeter (bookplate) A cornerstone of any collection of works on economics and business, including a number of important maps: a fine copy in contemporary binding and first edition "of the earliest systematic work on trade and commerce published in the English language" (Sabin). Roberts's work is truly global in scope, addressing issues of trade of all parts of the known world, including the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa. He offers a great deal of practical advice on engaging in commerce abroad, discussing specific goods, fees, customs , payment systems, weights and measures, account keeping and much more. The section on trade in the Americas deals primarily with Mexico and Peru, but also discusses Virginia and Florida, as well as fishing in Newfoundland and trade with the Caribbean. The final 190 pages concern exchange rates between cities and countries, which would have been particularly valuable information to 17th-century traders. The work also contains an extensive index, as well as a table giving the longitude and latitude of all principal cities mentioned in the text. Lewes Roberts worked in commerce and trade for most of his life, first as a factor and later a director of the East India Company, where he began working in 1617, and also as an employee of the Levant Company in Constantinople. The work is dedicated by Roberts to the governors of both those companies. The other significant feature of Roberts's book is the maps, in particular the early issue of the Robert Vaughan's world map. This had been published first in 1628 in the first edition of "The World Encompassed", an account of Sir Francis Drake's voyages. The map includes a small portrait of Drake, as well as portraits of Magellan, Cavendish and Noort. There are also individual maps of the Americas (based on the 1607 Hondius map) of Africa, Asia, and Europe. Arents(additions)292; Burden, America I, 153; DNB XVI, page 1274; European Americana 638/102; Kress535; Sabin 71906; Shirly The Mapping of the World 326 (world map); STC 21094; Wagner Northwest Coast 304.
A book of the utmost scarcity, especially in first edition and in contemporary binding!