2 volumes, 4to. 2 engraved folding maps (short tear to fold with old repair on verso), 25 engraved plates. Contemporary polished tree calf gilt, smooth spines gilt, red lettering pieces gilt, yellow edges. Provenance: Samuel Enderby (1756-1829) English whale oil merchant (bookplate); K. E. H. (bookplate). 

 

FIRST EDITION in English of Clavigero's standard history of Mexico, translated by Charles Cullen. 

 

SAMUEL ENDERBY'S COPY with his harpoonist bookplate. Enderby founded Samuel Enderby & Sons, a prominent shipping and whaling firm, in the 18th century. His ships began the development of southern whale fisheries, and he was closely linked with the early development of Australia. His ships 

extended the whale fishery further into the Pacific, traveling to New Zealand and the Polynesian islands, and later on to Japan. Chapter 100 of Melville's Moby Dick describes an encounter between the Pequod and a ship from London named Samuel Enderby, which has also encountered the white whale. Palau 55485; Sabin 13519. 

 

Property from the Collection of Meredith Hill Kwiatkowski, Fort Collins, Colorado