A Voyage made through Italy in 1646, and 1647. Important and early Grand Tour guide to Italy printed in English
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Description
RAYMOND, John
AN ITINERARY: Contayning A VOYAGE, Made through ITALY, In the yeare 1646, and 1647. Ilustrated with divers figures of Antiquities : Never before Published. BY JO: [hn] RAYMOND, Gent.
LONDON, printed for Humphrey Moseley, and are to be sold at his and are to be sold at his shop at the Princes Armes in St. Pauls Church-yard, 1648.
With a final errata leaf and imprimatur leaf dated 28 June 1648. 12mo,
FIRST EDITION, A dedication To the most Illustrious Prince Charles, later Charles II; a letter to the author from J. Berkenhead, and a laudatory poem by J. N. Opposite the typographical title page is the additional engraved title page signed T. Cross sculpt with alternative running title, ‘Il Mercurio Italico’.
13 Illustrations, apparently Raymond’s own, within text which is set inside ruled borders. ( Nero’s Tombe; Scala Santa; Osiris; Tuscan House;Tres Taberna; Tullies Tombe at his Villa Formiana; Virgill’s Tombe;The Mountaine Vesuvius; Antennas Tombe; Livies old Tombe; The Amphitheatre at Verona; Remained of Tombe in S. Eustorgios, Milan). On page 190 there is a small diagram of Piazza/Piazzetta di San Marco which “somewhat resembles a Carpenters Square.”
This copy has both the initial and final blanks. While some copies retain the final blank, this is the only copy we have seen complete with the blank before the title page.
The outer margin of typographical title page has been neatly extended by a few millimeters to include a missing ruled border in ink. There is no loss of type on the title page. The edge of the additional engraved title page is a little chipped, but just outside the ruled border. The initial and final blanks are chipped are along the edges. Some of the pages a little age-toned but considerably less than usual. Generally a very nice, clean copy – a few pages trimmed close to or just on the ruled borders. The second page of laudatory verse by JN, together with pages 120 & 160 (these 3 pages illustrated in gallery) are the pages trimmed closest. There is a skillfully repaired paper flaw in the margin of the page with An introduction to Italy. There is another paper flaw on page 41, also in the margin and not affecting text. On the first and last pages some early numerical notations in ink of the kind that adds to the appeal of the book.
One of the key Grand Tour source books in English.
John Raymond undertook what has become known as the Grand Tour in the company of his uncle, John Bargrave, and another young man. There is some dispute about the authorship of the resulting book. But according to Edward Chaney, Raymond’s Itinerary is “what we must now recognize as the first comprehensive English guidebook to Italy”. (49).
It is also important for its Royalist prefatory epistle from Sir John Berkenhead, which links the origins of the formal Grand Tour with the events of the midseventeenth century. By presenting Rome as the ultimate destination for the young traveler (indicated by the phrase ne plus ultra, the “highest attainable point,” or more ominously, “go no further”), the engraving signals the politics of the book to follow, a gesture particularly crucial in the year of Charles I’s capture and execution. The bookseller, Humphrey Moseley, was the most important source for “highend” Royalist books during the period. Moreover, the book’s running title, Il Mercurio Italico, demonstrates its role in the “pamphlet wars” of the period, “Mercury” being the common name for newsbooks on both sides of the civil wars. Stephen N. Zwicker, The Folger Institute
Period-style binding by Pat and George Sargent’s Dragonfly Bindery, which has operated in Woonsocket, RI since 1982. It was made for David O’Neal Antiquarian Bookseller in Boston from whom this copy was purchased around 30 years ago.
The last time a comparable copy in a modern binding appeared at auction it sold for £5,000 (2020 Forum Auctions, Fox Pointe Manor Library). The only copy currently on-line is with an Italian dealer for € 6.800. Given its fundamental importance as a Grand Tour source book, Raymond’s work has until recently been distinctly undervalued. It is now becoming increasingly hard to find in commerce.