![CORYATE, Thomas (ca 1577-1617). Coryates Crudities Hastily gobled vp in five Moneths travells in France, Savoy, Italy...Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of Germany and the Netherlands..dispersed to the nourishment of the Travelling Members of this Kingdom. London: W[illiam] S[tansby, for the author], 1611.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2001/NYR/2001_NYR_09878_0196_000(033323).jpg?w=1)
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CORYATE, Thomas (ca 1577-1617). Coryates Crudities Hastily gobled vp in five Moneths travells in France, Savoy, Italy...Helvetia alias Switzerland, some parts of Germany and the Netherlands..dispersed to the nourishment of the Travelling Members of this Kingdom. London: W[illiam] S[tansby, for the author], 1611.
4o (210 x 155 mm). Elaborate engraved allegorical titlepage by William Hole (a classical pediment with oval portrait of the author flanked by three women labeled "Gallia, Germania and Italia," side panels containing scenes of Coryate's travels), printed title, separate printed title to George Coryate's Posthuma Fragmenta Poematvm (Aaa6), dedicatory acrostick verses by Ben Jonson, 4 engraved plates (two folding) three of which signed by William Hole, two engraved text illustrations, many woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, full-page woodcut badge of the Prince of Wales on an inserted leaf, two lines printed music at e6v. (Engraved title with small repair to inner margin and shaved within platemark affecting the border slightly at the top, printed title with small repair to inner margin and lower outer corner, fore-margin of leaf with arms of the Prince of Wales neatly renewed affecting the outermost typographical rule, some preliminary leaves bound out of order but all present [conforming though, to what Langland to Wither terms the usual collation]; small hole from paper flaw in lower margin of I5, burn-hole in lower margin P5, large vertical engraving of the Strassburg clock facing p.452 cropped at top and bottom, rust-hole in Yy1 catching two letters, inner margins renewed on last two leaves [note on errata and errata leaf], in spite of the defects noted, an excellent copy.) 19th-century gilt-panelled rose morocco, spine richly gilt in six compartments, gilt-lettered in two, edges gilt, by Bedford (spine slightly sunned). Provenance: Charles Tennant (armorial bookplate) -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 1 May 1970.
FIRST EDITION of this unintentionally humorous Elizabethan travel narrative, one of the earliest travelogues in English, published at the author's expense. Coryate spent five months wandering through western Europe, largely on foot and horseback, visiting 45 cities and covering, by his reckoning, 1975 miles. His naive narrative is notable for its extravagant style: "there has probably never been another such combination of learning and unconscious buffoonery" (Pforzheimer). Perhaps due to the obstacles in publishing his narrative, Coryate chose to prefix the volume with nearly a hundred pages of "Penegyrick verses upon the author and his booke," constituting a veritable poetical miscellany; many of these solemnly pillory the earnest author. Included are poems by Thomas Campion, Inigo Jones, Dudley Digges, Michael Drayton and three verses by John Donne (one macaronic, another concluding "Thy giant wit o'erthrows me, I am gone, And rather then read all, I would read none"). The humorous vignettes comprising the side panels of the engraved title illustrate principal incidents from the book, each keyed by a letter (A-N) to brief humorous verses by Ben Jonson (on a1r-a3v). Cox, Literature of Travel, I, p.98; Grolier Langland to Wither 49; Keynes Donne 70; Pforzheimer 218; Pirie, John Donne 74; STC 5808.
4o (210 x 155 mm). Elaborate engraved allegorical titlepage by William Hole (a classical pediment with oval portrait of the author flanked by three women labeled "Gallia, Germania and Italia," side panels containing scenes of Coryate's travels), printed title, separate printed title to George Coryate's Posthuma Fragmenta Poematvm (Aaa6), dedicatory acrostick verses by Ben Jonson, 4 engraved plates (two folding) three of which signed by William Hole, two engraved text illustrations, many woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, full-page woodcut badge of the Prince of Wales on an inserted leaf, two lines printed music at e6v. (Engraved title with small repair to inner margin and shaved within platemark affecting the border slightly at the top, printed title with small repair to inner margin and lower outer corner, fore-margin of leaf with arms of the Prince of Wales neatly renewed affecting the outermost typographical rule, some preliminary leaves bound out of order but all present [conforming though, to what Langland to Wither terms the usual collation]; small hole from paper flaw in lower margin of I5, burn-hole in lower margin P5, large vertical engraving of the Strassburg clock facing p.452 cropped at top and bottom, rust-hole in Yy1 catching two letters, inner margins renewed on last two leaves [note on errata and errata leaf], in spite of the defects noted, an excellent copy.) 19th-century gilt-panelled rose morocco, spine richly gilt in six compartments, gilt-lettered in two, edges gilt, by Bedford (spine slightly sunned). Provenance: Charles Tennant (armorial bookplate) -- purchased from John F. Fleming, New York, 1 May 1970.
FIRST EDITION of this unintentionally humorous Elizabethan travel narrative, one of the earliest travelogues in English, published at the author's expense. Coryate spent five months wandering through western Europe, largely on foot and horseback, visiting 45 cities and covering, by his reckoning, 1975 miles. His naive narrative is notable for its extravagant style: "there has probably never been another such combination of learning and unconscious buffoonery" (Pforzheimer). Perhaps due to the obstacles in publishing his narrative, Coryate chose to prefix the volume with nearly a hundred pages of "Penegyrick verses upon the author and his booke," constituting a veritable poetical miscellany; many of these solemnly pillory the earnest author. Included are poems by Thomas Campion, Inigo Jones, Dudley Digges, Michael Drayton and three verses by John Donne (one macaronic, another concluding "Thy giant wit o'erthrows me, I am gone, And rather then read all, I would read none"). The humorous vignettes comprising the side panels of the engraved title illustrate principal incidents from the book, each keyed by a letter (A-N) to brief humorous verses by Ben Jonson (on a1r-a3v). Cox, Literature of Travel, I, p.98; Grolier Langland to Wither 49; Keynes Donne 70; Pforzheimer 218; Pirie, John Donne 74; STC 5808.