John Leo Africanus - Geographical Historie of Africa
The First Book of Africa - The First Book by an African
The Scarce First English Translation - 1600 - First Edition
[Africanus, Johannes Leo]; Leo, John. A GEOGRAPHICAL HISTORIE OF AFRICA, Written in Arabicke and Italian by John Leo, a More, Borne in Granada, and brought up in Barbarie... Before Which... is Prefixed a Generall Description of Africa, and... a Particular Treatise of all the... Lands and Isles Undescribed by John Leo. And After the Same is Annexed a Relation of the Great Princes, and the Manifold Religions in that Part of the World. Translated and Collected by John Pory... (London: Georg. Bishop, 1600) Rare First Edition of the English translation of this seminal book by Hasan ben Muhamed el-Wazzan-ez-Zayyati (1485-1552), known by his Latin name Johannes Leo Africanus. With an engraved titlepage, a double-page folding map of Africa in Latin, and many woodcut initials, some of which are decorated, throughout. 4to, in a fine binding of later full white vellum over stiff boards, the boards with double-ruled gilt borders, the spine with gilt stippled raised bands ruled in gilt, the compartments with central gilt tools in an exotic floral motif, two red morocco labels lettered and ruled in gilt and additional gilt lettering at the tail of the spine, turn-ins gilt decorated, marbled endpapers, a.e.g. 332 pp. A very fine copy, text very bright and clean, a touch of very occasional toning, hinges strong and sound, the binding in very pleasing and well preserved condition.
VERY IMPORTANT AND RARE FIRST EDITION OF THE PRIZED ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE FIRST GREAT WORK ON AFRICA. During the years 1511-1517 Leo Africanus traveled to Fez, Morocco, Tunis, and across the Sahara Desert to Timbuktu. He visited the native sates on the Upper Niger to Kario, Houssa, Bornou and Lake Chad. He also made a voyage to Constantinople and Egypt and then crossed the Red Sea to Arabia. He was subsequently captured by the Venetians and presented to Pope Leo X whose name Leo he adopted as his surname. The Pope persuaded him to translate the Arabian manuscript account of his travels into Italian. The account was then translated by Floreanu into Latin, which was published in 1556, and then into English by Pory in 1600. It is generally considered to be the first book published in Europe by a person of primarily African descent. Africanus is also considered by many to have been Shakespeare's model for the character Othello.
The book was considered the most important on the geography of Africa and an especially important source for all information on the continent. Until the great European voyages and explorations into Africa in the 1600's and 1700's, Leo Africanus' work was considered the primary source for all studies on the Sudan and even of Africa. This English edition includes much additional matter added by Pory from various sources covering vast areas not described in the original works by Africanus. The translation is said to be more accurate Floreanu's Latin translation, though he did use both the Italian and Latin versions as source and has on occasion repeated some of Floreanu's errors. First edition copies, especially in condition such as this, are very rare on the open market. Mendelsohn, South African Bibliography 884-886; Cox. |
