Travel. GEMELLI CARERI. Giro del mondo.

9 volumes in 8vo; mm 183x118. Contemporary cardboard binding with manuscript titles on the spines. Pages [32], 314, [6]; 317, [11] with 4 plates; [4], 256 [i.e. 246], [10] with 16 plates; [4], 335, [13] with 6 plates; [4], 268, [20] with 2 plates; [4], 292, [12] with 13 plates; [8], 290, [18]; [2], 336, [16] with 1 plate; [4], 288. A total of 48 plates and one frontispiece. Missing first two endpapers of second volume (title page and index) hole with loss of text on pages 255-256 of volume five. Handwritten ex-libris on first page of each volume dated 1742. Marginal dampstain to volume six and other minor brownings. Good uncut copy.

Important work that gave great fame to the Calabrian jurist and traveler. He was the author of a real “Tour of the World”; on June 14, 1693, he embarked on his voyage around the world in a ship bound for the Levant. He set out from Naples, stopping in Calabria to say goodbye to his brother, and then from Palmi, passing through Messina and Malta, he reached Egypt, visiting the Holy Land, Constantinople, Armenia, Persia, delving into India and China; from there he went on to the Philippines, the Marianas Islands and then across the Pacific to Mexico and then Cuba; finally sailing on the Atlantic, he reached Spain, whence through France he returned to Italy. He landed in Naples on December 4, 1698, five and a half years after his departure.

The book was a great success and the first edition was followed by five more in Italian, a first English translation in 1704 and two French editions in 1719 and 1727. It was from France that the first criticisms of Gemini Careri's publication came. It became apparent that many passages, full of detailed descriptions, had been copied from other publications, scholars identified. These criticisms led the public to regard Gemini Careri's entire work as a work of fiction or plagiarism.