$100.00 CAD
pp. xcvii, (1), 360, sketch maps, “Sir Walter Ralegh’s account of his 1595 expedition to the Orinoco in search of the fabled empire of El Dorado was an immediate publishing success and is one of the most important pieces of Elizabethan travel literature. This edition presents, on facing pages, the annotated texts of a previously unpublished copy of Ralegh’s fair manuscript draft of “The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtifvl Empyre of Gviana” and the subsequent printed versions, and demonstrates very clearly how Sir Robert Cecil and Ralegh’s few other serious backers induced the reluctant author to alter his manuscript for publication. Lively tales of Amazon women, drinking bouts and swash-buckling adventures, which would have fascinated armchair travellers, were firmly deleted. The focus of his appeal to investors was shifted from an ephemeral golden empire to actual gold mines to which, as his manuscript shows, he had originally paid little attention and for which he had very little evidence.”
In stock
| ISBN | 904180875 | |
|---|---|---|
| Published Date | 2007 | |
| Book Condition | Very Good | |
| Jacket Condition | Very Good | |
| Binding | Hardcover | |
| Size | Larger 8vo | |
| Place of Publication | Williston, Vermont, U.S.A. | |
| Category: | Travel | |
| Authors: | Joyce Lorimer, Walter Raleigh | |
| Publisher: | Ashgate Pub Co., Hakluyt Society |
pp. xcvii, (1), 360, sketch maps, “Sir Walter Ralegh’s account of his 1595 expedition to the Orinoco in search of the fabled empire of El Dorado was an immediate publishing success and is one of the most important pieces of Elizabethan travel literature. This edition presents, on facing pages, the annotated texts of a previously unpublished copy of Ralegh’s fair manuscript draft of “The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtifvl Empyre of Gviana” and the subsequent printed versions, and demonstrates very clearly how Sir Robert Cecil and Ralegh’s few other serious backers induced the reluctant author to alter his manuscript for publication. Lively tales of Amazon women, drinking bouts and swash-buckling adventures, which would have fascinated armchair travellers, were firmly deleted. The focus of his appeal to investors was shifted from an ephemeral golden empire to actual gold mines to which, as his manuscript shows, he had originally paid little attention and for which he had very little evidence.”
| Weight | 0.85 kg |
|---|
