A journey over land, from the Gulf of Honduras to the great South-Sea / performed by John Cockburn, and five other Englishmen
Author: John Cockburn
Year: 1735
Publisher: C. Rivington
Place: London
Description:
viii+349+[3 ad] pages with folding map laid in. Small octavo (7¼" x 4¼"), quarter beige cloth over marbled boards. (Hill 324; Sabin 14095; Field 33) First Edition.
Cockburn was an English seaman who had sailed to the coast of Central America in 1731. His ship was boarded off the coast of Honduras by Spanish authorities and the crew taken to Puerto Cavalho. They escaped from jail in San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Accompanied by five other seamen, Cockburn made his way across Central America to the Pacific coast crossing the Isthmus to San Salvador and overland to Panama. His journal was very popular at the time and was reprinted three more times before 1800. For many years, Cockburn's narrative was suspect due to the seriousness of the "Extraordinary distress and Adventures that he and his men encountered". Today the narrative is viewed as "valuable on account of its filling in the history of their characteristics not elsewhere to be found." - Field. Also included is the quaint account of the travels of Nicholas Withington.
Condition:
Some shelfwear to boards with minor paper loss, bumped rubbing at corners, discoloration to spine; endpapers and map disbound, starting at hinges, library stamps to title page and page 1, toning throughout, edges trimmed else fair to good.
