Beschreibung:

CEYLON - SRI LANKA. KNOX, ROBERT. An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon, in the East-Indies: together with an Account of the detaining in captivity the Author and divers other Englishmen now living there, and of the Author's miraculous Escape. London (Printed by Richard Chiswell, Printer to the Royal Society) 1681. 4:o (237x188 mm.). (24, first page blank), 1-189, (1 blank), (2) pp. 1 folding engraved map (some worming in lower part, mended tear in upper part), 15 engraved plates (all, lacks the engraved portrait of Knox, 1 with mended tear in lower margin, minor spotting). Contemporary brown full calf, renovated, mended in the joints, richly gilt spine in six compartments, all edges gilt. Some spotting. An Historical Relation of the Island Ceylon is a book written by the English trader and sailor Robert Knox (1641-1720) in 1681. It describes his experiences some years earlier on the South Asian island now best known as Sri Lanka and provides one of the most important contemporary accounts of 17th century Ceylonese life. When the book was published in 1681 it was widely read and was translated in Knox's lifetime into German (1689), Dutch (1692) and French (1693) editions. It made Knox internationally famous and was a major influence on the works of Daniel Defoe; Robinson Crusoe and the later Captain Singleton both draw on the experiences of Knox. From the library of Swedish antiquarian bookdealer Björn Löwendahl (1941-2013) Photo.