Voyage to South-America: Describing at Large the Spanish Cities, Towns, Provinces, etc. on that extensive continent. 2 Vols

London: Printed for L. Davis and C. Reymers, 1758. First edition. Hardcover. g to g+. Octavo. xvi, (8) 509 (3), 5 plates, four of them folding, (6) 420 (18)pp., 2 folding plates. Original calf with gilt double border on covers, gilt lettering on red and black labels of spine with additional gilt tooling; raised bands. The description of the journey is interspersed throughout with reflections on the genius, customs, manners, and trade of the inhabitants; together with the natural History of the country, and an account of their gold and silver mines. the journey was undertaken by command of his Majesty the King of Spain by Don George Juan and Don Antonio de Ulloa, both captains of the Spanish Navy, members of the Royal Societies of London and Berlin, and corresponding members of the Royal Academy at Paris. Translated from the original Spanish and illustrated with copper seven plates. A second, revised edition of this work appeared in 1760, also printed for Davis and Reymers.

Jorge Juan y Santacilia (George Juan), a Spanish mathematician, scientist and navel officer, is known for measuring the heights of the Andes successfully and he determined the earth to be oblate, flattened at the pole. Antonio de Ulloa y de la Torre-Giral was a Spanish navy general, explorer, author, and astronomer. And he was a colonial administrator and the first Spanish governor of Louisiana. His international reputation in science is due to the publication of his extensive records of his observations on his South America journey. "The geographical descriptions we have of the country about Carthagena, the Isthmus of Darien, the Terra Firma, the countries of Peru and Chili, those watered by the vast river of the Amazons, and in a word, of the greatest part of South America, are not only perfectly accurate, very methodical, and in all respects, full, clear and satisfactory; but also what we greatly wanted, and what we never had, at least in any comparison with what we now have, before this work appeared." (Preface).

Leather somewhat darkened with some staining of covers and light wear along edges. Some fading of lettering with typical, closed cracks on spine, and very small chips. Reinforced with library tape on inside covers and lightly starting at back free endpaper of volume one. Number 254 inked to inside front covers and previous owner's names inked to top of title page of first, top of front free endpaper of second volume. The first folding map, folded vertically and horizontally, with five closed tears, two of them one inch, two two inch and and one four inch tear with minor chips but w/o loss of image, and some creasing at edges. Plate two with three inch closed tear at bottom near spine, minor foxing but complete image of map, light creasing at edges. Plate three with light smudging at lower right corner. Plate four with loss of one to two inch bottom part of images and two and a half closed tear near spine. Plate five with one and a half by three inch square missing at foredge, reinforced with library tape on back, two two inch closed tears and some creasing at foredge. Plate one of volume two with two inch closed tear at fold at foredge, some creasing here, no loss of image. Plate two with some foxing hardly affecting image and some creasing at foredge. Blocks age-toned. Bindings and interior in overall good to good+ condition.