Hispania Rare Books

£1400.00

[Joseph Skinner (Editor) ]

The Present state of Peru: comprising its geography, topography, natural history, mineralogy, commerce, the customs and manners of its inhabitants, the state of literature, philosophy, and the arts, the modern travels of the missionaries in the heretofore unexplored mountainous territories, &c. &c. / the whole drawn from original and authentic documents, chiefly written and compiled in the Peruvian capital; and embellished by twenty engravings of costumes, &c.

London: Richard Phillips, No 6 Bridge-Street, Blackfriars. 1805.

First edition, 4to, (270 x 220 mm), [xiv]+487 pp, 20 hand coloured plates, contemporary calf, gilt decorated spine.

The editor Joseph Skinner compiled  The Present State of Peru based on articles written  for  Mercurio Peruano, a Lima newspaper, the 20 beautiful plates were created, according to Skinner, by an “untutored native”.  The book catered to a British audience fascinated by the geography, flora, fauna, and indigenous populations of distant lands.  Abbey Travel 723.

Condition: rebacked preserving original gilt decorated spine, occasional minor spotting or offsetting, corners and edges rubbed, bookplate of Lord Berwick and of Charles Crofton-Atkins. Good.