This is a second edition of Whitbourne’s A Discourse And Discovery of New-found-land, published in 1622, just two years after the first edition was published. The full title is A Discourse And Discovery of New-found-land, With many reasons to prooue [prove] how worthy and beneficiall a Plantation may there be made, after a far better manner than now it is. Together With The Laying Open Of Certaine Enormities and abuses committed by some that trade to that Countrey, and the meanes laid downe for reformation thereof. Written by Captaine Richard Whitbourne of Exmouth, in the County of Devon, and published by authority. As also, by Invitation: and likewise certaine Letters sent from that Countrey; which are printed in the latter part of this Booke.
It was imprinted in London by Felix Kingston in 1622, with the Printer’s device below the title and the initials FK inside the device. There are typed notes in the margins from the printer, headpieces above the chapter titles, a woodcut of the royal arms on the verso of the title page, and all the edges are gilt.
A rare and important work, this second issue was enlarged from the 1620 edition to include fifteen pages of letters at the end and gives the only account of George Calvert's colony at Avalon, which Calvert later left for Maryland. (Calvert was the famous Lord Baltimore.)
The book is 112 pages long and includes the fifteen pages of letters, and it has the Signatures A2 and A3 as well as B - T4. (The signatures are the letters and numbers
at the bottom of the pages and act as guides to the binder in assembling the pages correctly.) The signatures are present here, and A2 and A3 contain dedications to the King, and this work is in a fine binding by Riviere, with five raised bands, elaborate gilt tooling and gilt titles in six compartments on the spine, triple gilt fillets on full red morocco, wide gilt dentelles with blank endpapers, and the letters at the end came
from Captain Wynne to George Calvert and from Captain Powell to Lord Calvert too. (Wynne was governor of Ferryland, a colony in the province of Avalon run by Lord Calvert, who was also “his Maiesties Principall Secretary” at the time.)
Whitbourne published the book in order to promote colonization on the island. He believed it had the potential to profit England, as well as himself, and it includes details on geography, climate, the fisheries and land resources, in addition to practical advice on settlement and survival, and the text includes Whitbourne's strange encounter with a mermaid.
Whitbourne was a sailor and merchant who visited Newfoundland in 1579 to catch whales and trade with the native people who lived on the island. He returned frequently and finally arrived in Newfoundland for good in 1615 as part of the English colonization effort. He became governor of Renewse, a colony on the island, in 1618, and has been called the father of Newfoundland. (Sabin 10331)
This copy doesn’t come up for auction very much. The last two sales we are aware
of for the 1622 edition were at Doyle’s in 2016 and Christie’s in 2017, and the sale at Christie’s realized a price of $12,500, but the book was lacking the two leaves which had the A2 and A3 signatures.
This copy is a small 4to. that measures 7 1/4 x 5 1/2 in. wide and is extremely handsome and clean. It has the rare signatures and letters, and it marks Whitbourne’s work as a unique contribution to the early literature about Newfoundland.