Rebound in brown calf. with red and green title plates, gilt banding and title with embossed decoration. Contains many plates.

• F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

FIRST EDITION of Volume II (1745) containing the latter half of work Superbly rebound and finished by Brian Cole. View to see the quality and uniqueness of the illustrations. A stand alone book.

                      Advert for Thomas Astley at the Dolphin and Crown in St. Paul’s Church-Yard, London, 1727

Thomas Astley (died 1759) was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th century. He ran his business from Saint Paul’s Churchyard (circa 1726-1742) and Paternoster Row (circa 1745). He belonged to the Company of Stationers. He published the celebrated Voyages and Travels which described localities in Africa and Asia, compiling information from travel books by John Atkins, Jean Barbot, Willem Bosman, Theodor de Bry, Francis Moore, Jean-Baptiste Labat, Godefroi Loyer, Thomas Phillips, William Smith, and Nicolas Villaut de Bellefond. It included engravings by G. Child and Nathaniel Parr. Astley intended his Voyages to improve upon the previous travel collections of Samuel Purchas, John Harris, and Awnsham & John Churchill. It was read by patrons of Hookham’s Circulating Library, Boosey’s circulating library, London Institution, Royal Institution, Salem Athenaeum, and Cape Town public library. Astley’s Voyages was translated into German (Schwabe (1747–1774), Allgemeine Historie der Reisen, Leipzig) and French (Prévost (1746–1789), Histoire des voyages, Paris).