BYRON (John) ; GÓMEZ ORTEGA (Casimiro), trans. Viage del com - Lot 24

BYRON (John) ; GÓMEZ ORTEGA (Casimiro), trans. Viage del comandante Byron al rededor del mundo, hecho ultimamente de orden del almirantazgo de Inglaterra en el qual se da noticia de varios paises del las costumbres de sus habitantes... Segunda edición. En Madrid, en la Imprenta Real de la Gazeta, 1769. Small in-4, [9] f. (frontis., title, prologue), 176 p., 1 map, [6] f. including title, 55 p., contemporary ivory vellum, smooth spine, handwritten title (soiling to binding, small tear to head cover, wetness to half of frontispiece and upper margin of pp. 43-55 (2nd part), small cracks to map at folds, one touching map restored). Second edition of this work recounting the round-the-world voyage of English navigator John Byron (1723-1786), governor of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is enlarged by a section entitled Resumen Historico de primer viage hecho al rededor del mundo emprendido por Hernando de Magallanes..., featuring a historical summary of the first voyage around the world initially undertaken by Portuguese explorer Magellan under Spanish auspices. However, after Magellan's death in the Philippines, the voyage was successfully completed by Spanish captain Juan Sebastián Elcano. Elcano, from the town of Getaria in Guipuscoa (Spanish Basque Country), took command of the expedition and brought the survivors back to Spain, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe in 1522. The illustration consists of a copper-engraved frontispiece by Cruz, showing an English navigator presenting giant natives with a piece of cookie, and a copper-engraved fold-out nautical chart enhanced with colored borders, illustrating the Strait of Magellan. Provenance: old signature "Pereira" repeated.