[Rarebooks] fa: 1814 KELLY'S UNIVERSAL GEOGRAPHY/ATLAS of AMERICA, ASIA & AFRICA 40 Maps/Plates

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, March 10. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching under the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/k58soof

Thanks for looking,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

Christopher Kelly: A New and Complete System of Universal Geography, or, An Authentic History and Interesting Description of the Whole World and its Inhabitants: Comprehending a copious and entertaining Account of all the Empires, Kingdoms, States, Republics and Colonies of Asia, Africa, America and Europe... With faithful Accounts of all the New Discoveries... forming a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels illustrative of the Present State of the World. To which will be subjoined, a useful Compendium of Astronomy, with Remarks on the Use of the Globes, &c. ..Embellished with numerous Engravings… and a new Set of accurate Maps, forming an Ornamental and Complete Atlas. London: Printed for Thomas Kelly, 1814. FIRST EDITION. Volume one (of  two). Thick 4to (27 x 22 cm) bound in 19th-century mottled calf; [4] + xx + 774 pp.; with a frontispiece and extra engraved title-page, plus 24 finely-engraved plates and 16 maps, six of which are folding.

The first volume only, comprising the sections on America, Africa and Asia (the second volume was primarily devoted to Europe):
AMERICA. Maps of: North America, the United States, British North America (Canada), Central America and the West Indies (folding), South America; numerous plates, including an American Indian and Niagara Falls.
ASIA. Maps of: the Continent (folding), Turkey, China, Hindoostan (the Indian subcontinent), Asiatic Russia (folding), the Philippines and the East Indies, the Pacific Ocean; numerous plates, including A Savage of New Caledonia and An Offering before Captain Cook in the Sandwich Islands.
AFRICA. Maps of: the Continent (folding), Egypt, the Colony of Good Hope (South Africa), and a number of plates.

There is also a folding MAP OF THE WORLD with the Tracts & Discoveries of the Latest Navigators (some creases and edge-wear from misfolding) and a prefatory Compendium of ASTRONOMY with plates of the Copernican or Polar System and the Armillary Sphere. As a surprise bonus, a folding map of Prussia from vol. II has also been bound in.

A bit rough externally but internally very good. Rubbing and wear to the binding, front board nearly detached but held by the cords; some worming to the upper edges of several text leaves and 4 or 5 of the plates; some darkening and light soiling to the margins of some plates; intermittent damp-stain in the lower gutter affecting a few of the plate/map margins; mild toning and a few occasional small spots to the contents, but generally clean and sound, the maps quite crisp and fresh.