A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages, Title page – Booksellers to the reader
A COLLECTION Of Curious TRAVELS & VOYAGES.
In Two Tomes.
The Firſt containing Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff's Itinerary into the Eaſtern Countries, as Syria, Paleſtine, or the Holy Land, Armenia, Meſopotamia, Aſſyria, Chaldea, &c. Tranſlated from the High Dutch by NICHOLAS STAPHORST.
The Second taking in many parts of Greece, Aſia minor, Egypt, Arabia Felix, and Petraea, Ethiopia, the Red-Sea, &c. from the Obſervations of Monſ. Belon, Mr. Vernon, Dr. Spon, Dr. Smith, Dr. Huntingdon, Mr. Greaves, Alpinus, Veſlingius, Thevenot's Collections, and others.
To which are added, Three Catalogues of ſuch Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs as grow in the Levant.
BY JOHN RAY, Fell. of the Royal Society.
LONDON, Printed for S. Smith and B. Walford, Printers to the Royal Society, as the Princes Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard. 1693.
To the Honourable Sr ROBERT SOƲTHWELL PRESIDENT: TO THE COUNCIL AND FELLOWS OF THE Royal Society: Theſe TOMES OF Curious Travels and Voyages ARE Moſt Humbly Dedicated, AS A Monument of GRATITUDE.
THE BOOKSELLERS TO THE READER.
THeſe Two Tomes of Travels and Voyages containing great Variety, both as to the ſeveral Countries, the Obſervations, and Authors of them, we think it proper to give the World a ſhort account of them.
The firſt is Rauwolf, a Perſon very famous for his Skill in Natural Products, and in the Practiſe of Phyſick, whoſe Itinerary into the Eaſtern Countries being written in High Dutch, was grown very rare, valued as a Manuſcript, and much deſired by ſome learned Gentlemen, who are juſtly eſteem'd to have a delicate Taſte and fine Judgment in the choice of Books and Subjects; therefore being informed that the High Dutch Copy of theſe Travels was only to be found in the Arundelian Library at Greſham College, we freely undertook the Charge of having it tranſlated, and printed in our Language, which is here performed with great care and diligence.
The Plants collected by the worthy Author Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff, in his Itinerary, were curiouſly preſerv'd by the late Iſaac Voſſius, in four large Volumes, and juſtly eſteem'd by that great man as the moſt noble Rarity and Ornament of his Bibliotheque, which when it came to be ſold to the Ʋniverſity of Leyden, was particularly valued by the Great Heer van Beverning, for theſe Volumes of dry'd Plants collected by our Author in his Travels of the Eaſtern Countries; and tho' ſome perhaps may give a ſlight Character of him, for a Miſtake or two about Preſt…r John and the Unicorn, yet if they conſider, that he only relates what he accidentally heard of them from others, they ought to take that part only as a Story told him upon the Road, as he himſelf indeed delivers it. But this may very truly be ſaid of Rauwolff, that whatever he writes upon his own Obſervation or Knowledge, is moſt faithful and ſincere; therefore it was not without Reaſon, that Carolus Cluſius and the two Bauhines (all very good Judges) depended ſo much upon him, and made ſuch frequent and honourable mention of this Itinerary.
But becauſe ſome might think that the aforementioned Journey of Dr. Leonhart Rauwolff was conſin…d to too narrow a compaſs of Ground, and to ſome Countries not much frequented, as Arme…ia, Meſopotamia, Aſſyria, Babylonia, Judea. &c. we therefore conſulted a Friend, how to render the Piece more uſeful to the Publick, who adviſed us to extend it to many other places of the Levant, where Rauwolff never travell'd, as Greece, Egypt, and other adjacent Countries, bordering near the Sphere of Rauwolff's Itinerary: This being thought moſt ſerviceable to the Republick of Learning, we immediately concluded to ſupply and enlarge Rauwolff with a Second Tome, out of ſome of the moſt renowned Travellers of thoſe parts of the World, ſuch as Bellonius, Alpinus, Veſlingius, Mr. Greaves, Mr. Vernon, and many others of great Fame and Reputation for their excellent Obſervations in the Levant, as Dr. Smith, Dr. Huntingdon, Dr. Spon, Sir G. Wheeler, &c.
To theſe we have added ſomething of Arabia Felix and Ethiopia, which curious perſons may be deſirous to read, being taken from Original and Authentick Voyages.
Laſtly, We prevail'd with Mr. Ray to draw up three Catalogues at the end, containing the Trees, Shrubs, and Herbs growing in the Levant part of the World, together with their various ſynonimous Names, which do much illuſtrate and beautifie the whole.
But before we take Leave, a Point of Honour, of Candor and Ingenuity ought not to be forgotten, which is a decent acknowledgment of the Writings from whence the ſeveral parts of the Second Tome were extracted, for the benefit of the Reader; theſe were Cluſius's Edition of Monſieur Belon's Itinerary, by Plantine at Antwerp. The Egyptian Obſervations of Alpinus, printed at Padua and Venice. The Pyramidographia of Mr. Greaves. The Collections of Voyages and Travels, by Ramuſio, Hakluyt, Purchas, and Thevenot. The Philoſophical Tranſactions publiſhed by Mr. Oldenburg, at London, and afterwards by Dr. Plot at Oxford: To which we may add ſome of the moſt learned Miſſionaries of the Church of Rome into foreign Countries; ſuch we mean only as applied themſelves to Topographical and Philoſophical Obſervations, as Father Alvarez, Father Lobo, Father Tellez, and Father Vanſleb, who, ſetting aſide the buſineſs of their Calling and Miſſion, are not only worthy of entring the Liſt of Gentlemen Travellers, and Virtuoſo's, but of appearing in a Proteſtant Kingdom. From all theſe we fetcht Materials for the forming and raiſing our Second Volume, which we cannot but hope will prove beneficial and grateful to the Publick, ſeeing we had no other deſign in it, than purely that of pleaſing and inſtructing, as well as of enlarging the Empire of Knowledge.