Item #23596 Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools. James Cook, Children's.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.
Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.

Geography Epitomized: or, A tour round the World: being a Short but Comprehensive Description of the Terraqueous Globe; Attempted in Verse, (for the sake of the memory;) And principally designed for the Use of Schools.

Stanford (NY): Daniel Lawrence, and Henry Hull, and John F. Hull, 1805. One of the first American works to include notice of Cook's Voyages, cited as "excessively rare", and a copy belonging to an Ulster County NY Revolutionary War veteran. The popular school text was published at least six times from 1784 to 1812, but expanded from 60 to 72 pages in this 1805 edition. The geography is wide ranging, including Europe, Asia, Russia, India, Japan, New Guinea, Middle East, Africa, North and South America & the Thirteen States. The author creatively writes poetry to tell the story of the Globe.

On page 52, an Australian section entitled "New Holland; and Isles in the Pacific Ocean" begins. "New Holland, south-east of East India lies; A continent equal to Europe in size; at the south cape of which call'd the land of Van Diemen, Were seen by Furneaux, that experienced Seaman; Ever-greens are the trees, rising high in a line; The soil appears rich, and the climate is fine; Yet the wretched possessors from place roam to place; The rudest they seem of the whole human race."

On New Zealand: "More east, lies New Zealand, th' abode of wild men; There Cook and Furneaux met, but parted again- To these Isles if you come, let your conduct be kind; No wars be excited - no man left behind: These people will feast on the flesh of mankind!"

Page 54-57 are devoted to Cook's second and third voyages, entitled "Cook's second Voyage round the Globe, to the south of the three Southern Continents" and "Cook's third voyage - in search of a North Passage." "From the Cape of Good Hope, in the year seventy three, Sail'd the brave Capt. Cook, on the wide southern sea. O'er the high swelling waves while his vessel he steers, Rising fast to his Zenith the south Pole appears.
New seas and untried, lo! he dares to explore! Proud to carry his ship where ne'er ship sail'd before. Midst islands of ice, which in thousands appear, Some rising like mountains aloft in the air, His ship he guides boldly, a stranger to fear!"

In speaking of Hawaii- "But cease with the natives, ah! cease to contend, Lest like Cook, you shall find here a sorrowful end? In an island he lies, where rude savages roam, Far distant, alas! from his dear native home!

The verses about North and South America include stanzas entitled “The Shining Mountains in North-America,” “Countries round the Gulph of California,” “East and West Florida and West India Isles,” etc.

Extensive footnotes reference various parts of the world including Crantz' History of Greenland; on Siberia & Russia "Abbe Chappe, who traveled to Tobolski, to view the transit of Venus, in the year, 1761", Muller and John von Straehlin; "Mr. J. Stewart's account of the kingdom of Thibet"; Ludolphus's history of Abyssinia; Cook's Voyages; Don Ulloa's on mountains of South America; Carver and Robertson on America.

Provenance- signed by James S. Bruyn on an ffep. From a prominent Ulster County NY family, James S. Bruyn was the Lieut. Colonel of the 5th line of the New York Revolutionary War soldiers. (See "New York in the Revolution", 1901, p. 276.)

The first edition is well documented. See Ferguson 2, Beddie 329 and Forbes 60 under the pseudonym "An American" and only 60pp. Shaw & Shoemaker; 8297; Wegelin, O. American Poetry 920; Rosenbach 96; Evans 18435; Sabin 18736; Hildeburn 4465. The Scott & O'Shaugnessy 1916 NY auction referenced in Rarebookhub states "Mentioned by Sabin, Evans and Hildeburn, but no copy is cited by any of them; and both Sabin and Hildeburn quote the title incorrectly. Mr. Harris, in his extensive collection of American poetry, had only the Morristown reprint of 1803." A 1937 reference to the work by Ernest Wessen, in his "Midland Notes" calls this "Excessively rare". Contains one of the earliest American notices of Captain Cook’s discoveries."

OCLC: 191260962 refers to the 1805 edition, recording three copies; the Univ. of Kansas, the American Antiquarian Society and the Ransom Center at UT Austin. It appears that the only actual copy in Australia is of the 1784 edition at the SLNSW (Ferguson 2). Libraries Australia ID 48663619 references an electronic resource.

Rare Book Hub lists nine auction records dating from 1884 to 2009, of which two records are identical copies. So of the seven individual copies, only one copy has appeared since 1979 and none are the 1805 edition here offered. An unappealing library copy (perforated stamp, rubber stamps) sold in 2009 for $976.

12mo, viii [1], 10-72pp, original decorated paper covers with a beautiful design of lines of very small intricate stars, garlands, flowers and bees. Stab-sewn in original gatherings, untrimmed. Paper wrappers a bit dulled, spine very fragile with loss. A stain on the corner of the front wrapper and following three pages. Somewhat browned throughout. Lacks the back free end paper. Overall, an authentic and pleasant copy.

A charming and rare children's geography, expanded in this edition to 72pp for the first time. Item #23596

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