Hans Sloane | A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, 1707-25, 2 volumes

Hans Sloane

A Voyage to the Islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, with the Natural History of the herbs and trees, four-footed beasts, fishes, birds, insects, reptiles, &c. of the last of those islands... with some relations concerning the neighbouring continent, and Islands of America. London: [vol.1: by B[enjamin] M[otte]] for the Author, 1707-1725

FIRST EDITION, 2 volumes, folio (vol.1: 341 x 260 mm.; vol.2: 351 x 229 mm.), dedication in each vol., illustration: woodcut music in text (one and a half pages), large folding sheet with engraved map of Jamaica and charts of the Western Ocean and 'Caribee Islands', and 285 fine double-page or folding plates mostly by Michael Vander Gucht or John Savage,  fine paper, all pages in vol.1 mounted on guards, nineteenth-century calf gilt, spines with raised bands in six compartments, gilt edges, dark green endpapers, large folding sheet with engraved map of Jamaica browned, vol.2 title spotted, a few leaves in vol.2 with some marginal dampstaining (pp. 313-6; 345-8), both volumes neatly rebacked preserving original spines

A FINE COPY of Sir Hans Sloane's most important published work, containing the first illustrations of the flora and fauna of Jamaica and the neighbouring islands. Sloane went to the West Indies in 1687, staying for 15 months as a physician to the Duke of Albemarle, the Governor of Jamaica, until the Duke's death in 1688. During this time, Sloane gathered around 800 new species of plants. Sloane also came across chocolate, which was drunk by the indigenous people, but he found it "nauseous", so he mixed it with milk and sugar to make it more palatable. When Sloane returned to England he used his new chocolate recipe for medicinal purposes; subsequently Sloane's recipe for milk chocolate was taken up by Cadbury's and manufactured as confectionery.

PROVENANCE:

ownership inscription "M. Cowper | 1713" to upper margin of title-page; Panshanger, Hertfordshire, Seat of the Earls Cowper, bookplate

LITERATURE:

Nissen BBI 1854; Hunt 417; Stafleu TL2 12.104; Sabin 82169