Ogilby, John.

first edition, folio (420 x 266mm.), half-title 'English Atlas, Tome the First', engraved allegorical frontispiece, title printed in red and black, engraved folding map of Africa after Jacob van Meurs, 14 double-page maps and plans, 29 double-page plates (mostly views), and 8 single-page plates (5 of which show 2 images), 46 engraved illustrations in the text, 9  full-page printed tables, engraved head- and tail-pieces (some by W. Hollar), contemporary panelled calf gilt, red morocco spine label lettered ''Mr. Ogilbys Atlas Tom. I" (see footnote), plates and maps browned, one plate torn in centre with some loss (at p.164), binding somewhat worn

Wing O1631; Mendelssohn (1979) 3, p.571; Tooley, Africa, p.87

Africa was the first volume of Ogilby's planned 'English Atlas' series, as indicated by the often wanting half-title (present in this copy). Hence this volume is numbered "Tom I" on the spine, lot 65, America, is uniformly bound with this volume and is numbered "Tom II" on the spine. the book is the most authentic and comprehensive work on africa in english published in the seventeenth century, of particular interest for the accounts of the natives in southern Africa. The preface (dated April 28, 1670) contains Ogilby's only autobiography (between 1650 and the date of writing) noting memories and partly frustrated ambitions which, as a result of the Great Fire of 1666, brought him "into a low condition, groaning under a double burden of Sickness and Poverty."