Physical description

Hard cover book,Cosmography in Four Books
Author: Peter Heylyn
Publisher: Philip Cherwind & Anne Seile, London.
Date: (MDCLXXIV) 1674
Further Information: Brown Leather bound volume, library label to spine, spine has raised ribbing front cover has border in gilt.

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on spine cover with typed text R.H.909 HEY
Front loose end paper has a sticker from Corangamite Regional Library Service
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Corangamite Regional Library Service
Front loose end paper has handwriting in the lower right-hand corner that reads "Presented by Mrs A B MacKay 1890"
Front loose end paper has handwriting in the lower left-hand corner that reads "Original binding repaired by De...World Melbourne March 1891" signed J Archibald 16.4.91 (1891)

Summary

Cosmography in Four Books was originally published as Cosmographie and is one of the most famous and comprehensive English encyclopedic compendiums of global geography, history, and chorography, meaning regional topography, produced in the 17th century. The work was first published in 1652 and attempts to document every known region of the world at the time. The information is bound together as a single large folio volume and divided into four main sections or books:
Book I: Europe and its surrounding islands.
Book II: Asia and its kingdoms.
Book III: Africa, its provinces, and coastal regions.
Book IV: America, split into Northern and Southern America. Book IV features an Appendix speculating on Terra Australis Incognita (the unknown Southern Continent). Each section outlines geographical coordinates, local climates, political histories, royal lineages, cultures, and notable geographical features, accompanied by four large folding engraved maps, one for each continent.