JOSSELYN, John.

by John Josselyn

£25,000 · Offered by Sokol Books

Second, revised and corrected edition of the scarce first natural history of New England. John Josselyn (fl.1638–75) was an English traveller of whom little is known. He arrived in New England in 1638, and returned for nearly a decade in the 1660s, when he landed in Boston, before heading to his brother’s estate in Maine. Whilst not thoroughly scientific, his natural observations are among the earliest depicting the natural landscape, flora and fauna, and everyday life of colonial New England. The work begins with an interesting physical and topographical description of Boston and Scarborough, Maine, in 1663, including descriptions of the language of indigenous people: ‘Their language is very significant, using but few words, every word having a diverse signification, which is expressed by their gesture; […] Their Speeches in their Assemblies are very gravely delivered, commonly in perfect Hexameter Verse’. Josselyn then describes the natural world and its medicinal properties: from birds (e.g., humming bird, pilhannaw, turkey, owl) to beasts (e.g., the bear, wolf, raccoon, porcupine, moose); dozens of fishes; snakes (the pond frog and rattle snake); insects (the flying glow worm); plants, divided into those that are also present in England, those which are only present in America, and have or don’t yet have a name – with a charming folding woodcut of the hollow-leaved lavender, a dozen more including the humming bird tree and the marigold of America – and tho

• Binding: Hardcover

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