CORYATE, Thomas.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Coryats crudities: First edition of this extraordinary travelogue, written by "Odd Tom" Coryate, "writer, eccentric, wit, and one of the most tireless, inquisitive, and courageous of all English travellers" (Strachan, p. 1). This is a particularly handsome complete copy; the Pforzheimer catalogue notes that "perfect copies with the plates intact are not common".Thomas Coryate (1577?-1617) was educated at Winchester and Gloucester Hall, Oxford, leaving without a degree but with "a retentive memory, much learning, excellent knowledge of Greek and Latin texts, fondness for rhetoric, aptitude for histrionics, curiosity to see the world, and a thirst for personal fame" (ODNB). Through good family connections he joined the household of Henry, prince of Wales, James I's eldest son, to whom he became an unofficial court jester. In May 1608 he sailed for Calais and made his way to Paris, then travelling, often on foot, to Venice, before returning to England in October, finally hanging up his shoes in the church at Odcombe in Somerset, the village in which he was born (he signs his Epistle to the Reader, "the Odcombian Legge-stretcher"). His expedition had taken in France, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, and the Netherlands; Coryate was "one of very few Englishmen from this period who travelled overseas for reasons unconnected to diplomacy, religion, or trade" (Beirouti).His narrative has many points of historical interest. His description of how Italians shielded themselves from the sun

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.