[Rarebooks] fa: ADVENTURES OF SIG. GAUDENTIO DI LUCCA - 1763 (Imaginary Voyage/Utopian Fiction)

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 29. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/hoflz22

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain


[Simon Berington:] The Adventures of Sig. Gaudentio di Lucca. Being the Substance of his Examination before the Fathers of the Inquisition at Bologna in Italy: Giving an Account of an Unknown Country in the Midst of the Deserts of Africa, the Origin and Antiquity of the People, their Religion, Customs, and Laws. Copied from the original Manuscript in St. Mark’s Library at Venice; with critical Notes of the learned Signor Rhedi. To which is prefixed a Letter of the Secretary of the Inquisition, shewing the Reasons of Signor Gaudentio’s being apprehended, and the Manner of it. London: Printed for J. Richardson, in Pater-noster-row, MDCCLXIII [1763]. Tall 12mo (18 cm) in early/period calf, modern morocco spine label lettered in gilt; 329, [1] pp. ESTC N4267.

An early edition of this voyage imaginaire, first published under a slightly different title in 1737, in which the traveler discovers a "lost" African kingdom (Mezzorania) and resides there for twenty years. Something of a sensation in its day but now surprisingly little-known, Gaudentio is not only one of the the earliest examples of Lost World fiction,  but, at least according to one literary critic, "almost the only specimen of the novel in English between Crusoe and Gulliver on the one hand, and Pamela on the other" (Lee Monroe Ellison, "Gaudentio di Lucca: A Forgotten Utopia," PMLA, vol. 50, no. 2, 1935). Originally ascribed to George Berkeley, its authorship is now attributed to Simon Berington (1680-1755), a Catholic priest and former adherent to the Stuart cause.

Binding rubbed and worn at the corners and spine ends, front and rear joints cracked with the front board loosening but held by the cords; offsetting to the edges of the endpapers, light toning to the leaves, a few small scattered spots, otherwise the contents are very clean and sound. From the library of noted book collector Hugh Selbourne, with his discreet ownership stamp on the verso of the title-page and in the bottom margin of one text leaf.