America.- Early travel guide.- Boyle (Robert) General Heads for the Natural History of a Country, Great or Small; Drawn out for the Use of Travellers and Navigators, first edition, final advertisement leaf, contemporary panelled calf, flower tool at corners, expertly rebacked preserving original backstrip, little rubbed, a very good copy, [Wing B3980; Sabin 7139; Fulton 195], 12mo, John Taylor...and S. Holford, 1692.*** "There are many amusing tales which Boyle and his editor had apparently received from navigators. Pages 102-6, for example, are headed 'Enquiries for Virginia and Bermudas' in which he asks for a 'particular Account of the [well known] Spider in the Bermudas, said to be Large and Beautiful for its Colours [&c.]'. He also desires further information concerning the 'Gigantick Natives of Cheasapeak' and the particulars of that sea water 'where ships do soonest rot as in the Streights of California the Sea looks red, with innumerable Worms that are in it'." (Fulton)Provenance: Hon. Robert Shirley (engraved armorial bookplate).