THE FIRST APPEARANCE OF JOHN OVERTON'S WONDERFULLY DETAILED, EARLY, AND LARGE 17TH-CENTURY FOLDING MAP OF AMERICA, DEPICTING CALIFORNIA AS AN ISLAND, AS WELL AS HIS SPLENDID MAPS OF AFRICA, ASIA AND EUROPE: 1671 ENLARGED SECOND EDITION OF ROBERTS' MERCHANTS MAP OF COMMERCE, WITH "MUCH FULLER ACCOUNTS OF NEW ENGLAND"

ROBERTS, Lewes. The Merchants Map of Commerce: Wherein the Universal Manner and Matter of Trade Is Compendiously Handled. London: R. Horn, 1671. Small folio (8 by 12-1/2 inches), period-style full paneled calf, raised bands.

Second, expanded edition of Roberts' major work, "one of the earliest systematic treatises on its subject in English" (DNB)—this is the first edition to include John Overton's four splendidly detailed and large engraved folding maps of America, Africa, Asia and Europe, and in this edition "the description of 'America and the Provinces thereof,' pp. 47-64, contains much fuller accounts of New England, New Netherland, and other places, than that in the first edition" (Sabin). Handsomely bound in period-style paneled calf.

Lewes Roberts worked for the East India Company, of which he became a director, and the Levant Company at Constantinople. His comprehensive guidebook, first published in 1638, "provided not only the standard topographical information sought by English travelers abroad, but also full details of local commodities, currency, weights and measures, and rates of exchange. It was an immediate success with the mercantile community, and revised editions were published in 1671, 1677, and 1700" (ODNB). The 1638 folio first edition included engraved maps of the continents, but not these splendid large folding maps by John Overton, which make their first appearance here, with fine details and elaborate decorative borders and cartouches. "The map [of the Americas] is derived from both of the other English maps circulating at that time. [Overton] draws upon Walton for the border decorations, and Jenner for the cartography. The only cartographic feature drawn from the Walton is the large decorative inset of the polar regions of North America… The Blaeu improvements referred to are cartographic, but, curiously, the Briggs version of California as an island is used and Greenland is omitted… From about 1670 Overton started selling atlases made to order and some contained the continental maps. They are also sometimes found in two other works, Lewes Roberts, The Merchants Map of Commerce, and Robert Fage, Cosmography, both 1671" (Burden). In addition to these improvements to the maps, the text has been expanded, and "the description of 'America and the Provinces thereof,' pp. 47-64, contains much fuller accounts of New England, New Netherland, and other places, than that in the first edition" (Sabin)—in the 1638 first edition the chapter on the Americas dealt chiefly with Mexico and Peru. The map of America in the second state with the "White/horse neere the Fountaine Tavern" imprint. Sabin 71907. Wing R-1599. Burden, The Mapping of North America 401. Alden & Landis 671/233. Early owner signature on title page inked over; early owner signature on blank verso of final leaf, another early signature on verso of Asia section title. Marginal annotations in a neat early hand to a few leaves in Europe section.

Title page rehinged and remargined. Maps skilfully mounted on paper, repairing a few minor holes; portion of Europe map missing and trimmed affecting border. A few marginal wormholes to text. Handsome binding fine.