A voyage to the South-Sea, and along the coasts of Chili and Peru, in the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714. Particularly describing The Genius and Constitution of the Inhabitants, as well Indians as Spaniards . . ., &c.

London:: Jonah Bowyer, 1717., 1717. 4to. [vi], [8], [2], 335, [xviii] pp. [Collates complete]. Title printed in red & black. 37 fine (the edition binder notes omit pl. XXX) engraved plates (numbered I-XXIX, XXXI-XXXVI, 36, XXXVII) [18 folding], music notation (p. 66), maps and charts, index; frontispiece map, title, and dedication pages with upper margins waterstained and damaged or trimmed (and repaired), worm trails from title through p. 10, burn-hole pp. 7-8, blotch-stains p. 289. CONTENTS includes: Dedication (top margin repaired with paper fill), Preface to the Reader, Directions to the binder, Postscript by Edmund Halley, Some Account of the Settlement of the Jesuits in the Spanish Indies, index. Original paneled calf; rebacked to style, raised bands, blind decorative devices in compartments, preserving original leather gilt-stamped spine label. With the ownership signature of N. [Neal] Harlow; inscription of the Kelso Library, [1757?]. Very good copy. First edition in English. "The first reliable maps of the Chilean and Peruvian coasts were drawn by the French explorer Amedee-Francois Frezier (1682–1773). In 1712, he was sent on a spying mission to the Spanish ports and fortifications of South America, travelling along the Pacific coastline as far as Callao, the port of Lima. His maps were later used by two of France’s most famous explorers, Bougainville and Laperouse. Frezier also took a keen interest in botany, mineralogy, economics and anthropology. His most celebrated achievement is the introduction to Europe of the Chilean strawberry, which was used to create the hybrid species known today as the garden strawberry. Frezier’s observations and illustrations of the people, plants and animals he encountered on his South American travels are given in this popular account, published in Paris in 1716 and [later] in the English translation of 1717." [Cambridge University Press]. / French royal military engineer, Frezier, offers the first detailed accounts of the people, plants, and customs of the people of South America. The first section covers his voyage from France, to São Vicente [Saint Vincent], off the western coast of Africa, the island of St. Catherine (off the coast of Brazil), round Cape Horn and the second gives detail of his voyage along the coast of Chile, stopping at the Bay of Concepcion, Valparaiso, Santiago, Bay of Coquimbo, Arica, and Peru, Callao, Lima, San Salvador, etc. The description of strawberries is found on p. 76. Gold is a frequent topic, including refining and the mines at Tilsil and Lampanqui. Dancing is recorded in Peru. The cocoa plant is noted (p.167, 269). Plate IX depicts, among other things, a man swinging a cane-like stick towards a ball, perhaps like lacrosse ["La Sueca"] game played by the Chilean Indians. Goodman believes this is described as if it were akin to golf. For this edition astronomer Edmund Halley (1656-1742) corrected some geographical errors. See: Edward Julius Goodman, The Explorers of South America, University of Oklahoma Press, 1992. / Although very brief, it was the accounts of Frezier and Laperouse that offered some notion of the recording of music and musical instruments in South America. Bennett Zon, Representing Non-Western Music in Nineteenth-century Britain, University of Rochester Press, (2007), p. 25. PROVENANCE: 1] The Kelso Library, the first known Scottish proprietary subscription library, founded in 1750, with their name inscribed in the upper title [See: John Mason, Kelso Records; being traditions and recollections of Kelso, Edinburgh, 1839. ]2 Neal Harlow (ca.1908/9-2000), distinguished librarian at UCLA, historian and author who published five volumes on the history of California that are greatly prized by map collectors and California historians. FULL TITLE: A voyage to the South-Sea, and along the coasts of Chili and Peru, in the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714. Particularly describing The Genius and Constitution of the Inhabitants, as well Indians as Spaniards: Their customs and Manners, their Natural History, Mines, Commodities, Traffick with Europe, &c. With a postscript by Edmund Halley and an account of the settlement, commerce, and riches of the Jesuites in Paraguay. REFERENCES: Borba de Moraes I, 329; ESTC T145981; Hill, 654; Nissen ZBI 1433; Palau 94965; Sabin 25926.