Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Beuutiful Empyre of Guiana, with a Relation of the Great and Golden Citie of Manoa (which the Spanyards Call El Dorado) and of the Provinces of Emeria, Arromaia, Amapaia, and other Countries; With Their Rivers, Adjoyning

Book Description

London: Robert Robinson, 1596. [16],112pp. Small quarto. Full polished calf, leather labels, by Riviere. Spine richly gilt in compartments, a.e.g. Upper margin of titlepage skillfully extended, with three letters and parts of ten other letters in almost imperceptible pen facsimile. A few other minor repairs to blank margins. Else a handsome, near fine copy. With bookplates of Boies Penrose and another bookplate on the rear free endpaper. Raleigh's voyage to find El Dorado Sir Walter Raleigh, famous Elizabethean courtier and adventurer, was involved in numerous schemes for establishing English colonies in the New World and in raiding the Spanish empire in the Americas. In the 1580s he was a major figure in the English court and in naval and military ventures. But in 1592 Raleigh fell from grace for marrying one of the Queen's ladies-in-waiting without her approval, and was thrown in the Tower. When released, he had lost much of his power and influence. He sought to regain it, and make a fortune, by a voyage to northern South America to seek the legendary city of El Dorado, where he believed he would find the streets paved in gold. Raleigh's voyage, usually called his second (after his voyage to found the first Virginia colony in 1585) took place under a cloud. He was strictly enjoined from attacking the Spanish, but on arrival in the Caribbean he attacked Trinidad, siezing the Spanish governor, and raiding the coast on Venezuela. He then pressed up the Orinoco River, going more than four hundred miles upstream, where he turned back after obtaining samples of what appeared to be gold. This book details his pioneering exploration, in which he accurately describes the country in the most precise description made until the mid-19th century. The book also theorizes, at length, on the chimerical city of El Dorado and its vast wealth, and on the extraordinary gold ornaments he observed among the Indians of the region. The gold samples, however, proved to be worthless. On his return from the El Dorado expedition Raleigh resumed his active place in the English court, but was accused of treason on the accession of James I and confined in the Tower until 1616. When released, he made one last attempt at finding El Dorado, in a disasterous second voyage there which ended in total failure, and ultimately in Raleigh's execution. This is the third issue as identified by European Americana and Church (all were issued in 1596 and have essentially the same text and setting). This copy contains the misprint "Gallie" for "Gallego" on p.[1], line 22. According to the entry in Sabin a copy was offered by a London bookseller in 1885 at £50. Church 254; European Americana 596/85; Sabin 67554; Hill 1414; JCB (3)i:149; STC 20636; Palau 246449-ii.

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