HARCOURT, Robert.

£25,000 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

A Relation of a Voyage to Guiana. Rare first edition, E. D. Church's copy, of this early account of Britain's attempt to establish a colony in South America. Harcourt promotes his newly acquired plantation in Guyana, arguing that the country's commercial potential rivals that of New Spain and Peru. "The tract did much to hasten the idea of English colonization in America" (Streeter). In March 1609, Harcourt sailed from Dartmouth aboard the Rose with 31 settlers, 23 sailors, and two natives of Guiana. Arriving at the Wiapoco (Oyapock) River in May, he made contact with a local chief and established a colony. As the exploration of the hinterlands failed to discover El Dorado, Harcourt turned to exploring the coast, rounding Cabo del Norte, which he renamed Point Perilous, and entering the River "Arrowari" [modern Araguari]. He left in August, placing his 30 settlers under his brother's command.Back in England in 1612 and in financial distress, Harcourt applied for, and was granted, the commercial monopoly "betweene the Ryver of Amazones [Amazon] and the Ryver of Dessequebe [Essequibo]." In 1613 he published this work as a prospectus for the colony, seeking potential colonists to join him or investors to back him. The book includes the text of his patent, which was not reprinted in the second edition of 1626. The narrative, vivid and detailed, discusses the growing of sugar, cotton, tobacco, and indigo. Purchas included Harcourt's Relation in Volume 4 of Purchas his Pilgrimes (1

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