Beschreibung:

Evelyn (John). Navigation and Commerce, their Original and Progress. Containing a Succinct Account of Traffick in General; its Benefits and Improvements: Of Discoveries, Wars and Conflicts at Sea ... with Special Regard to the English Nation; their several Voyages and Expeditions, to the Beginning of our Late Differences with Holland; in which His Majesties Title to the Dominion of the Sea is asserted, against the Novel, and Later Pretenders, 1st edition, London: printed by T. R. for Benj. Tooke, 1674, retaining initial blank A1, errata K3 and advertisement leaf K4, slight browning (stronger along edges), small worm-hole to foot of gutter, ramifying from quire D before disappearing by leaf H4, contemporary ownership inscriptions ('George Spens, 15 of September 1684' and variants) to inside covers and rear free endaper, contemporary sheep, a little craquelure and wear, 8vo (17.2 x 11 cm) (Qty: 1) Provenance: 1) Robert S. Pirie, his sale, Sotheby's New York, 2-4 December 2015, lot 356 (bookplate). 2) From the estate of John Lawson (1932-2019). ESTC R8611; Keynes 92; Kress 1358; Sabin 23028; Wing E3504. 'Commanded by Charles II to write about the history of the conflict between the Dutch and the English over the sovereignty of the seas ... Evelyn found his labours rejected as malapropos in a time of peace. The introduction was published as Navigation and Commerce in 1674, but the rest of his history, given to Pepys for his proposed history of the navy, was lost' (ODNB). A catalogue note laid into this copy identifies leaf I1 as being in its rare uncancelled state.