THE ADVENTURES OF ABDALLA, SON OF HANIF, SENT BY THE SULTAN OF THE INDIES, TO MAKE A DISCOVERY OF THE ISLAND OF BORICO, WHERE THE FOUNTAIN WHICH RESTORES PAST YOUTH IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOUND. ALSO AN ACCOUNT OF THE TRAVELS OF ROUSCHEN, A PERSIAN LADY, TO THE TOPSY-TURVY ISLAND, UNDISCOVERED TO THIS DAY. THE WHOLE INTERMIX'D WITH SEVERAL CURIOUS AND INSTRUCTIVE HISTORIES. Translated into French from an Arabick Manuscript Found at Batavia by Mr. de Sandisson: And Now Done into English by William Hatchett, Gent. Adorn'd with Cuts. London: Printed for Tho. Worrall at the Judge's-Head over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet-street, 1729. Octavo, pp. [1-6] [i] ii-vi [i-ii] iii-xvi [xvii-xviii] [1] 2-169 [170-176: ads] [note: page ii of the second sequence of roman pagination misnumbered 158], eight inserted engraved plates, recent full brown paneled calf period style by Phil Dusel, red morocco spine label, gilt rules and lettering. First edition in English. A classic oriental tale and imaginary voyage written by the French Royal Librarian and member of the Académie Française, Jean Paul Bignon (1662-1743), first published in Paris in 1712-1714 and here first translated into English by William Hatchett, minor playwright, actor and common-law husband of author Eliza Haywood. "ADVENTURES OF ABDALLA is often left out of imaginary voyage bibliographies because it includes such a hybrid of genres, including the utopia and the fairy-tale." - Horden House, Imaginary Voyages & Invented Worlds #81. Martha Pike Conant (The Oriental Tale in England in the Eighteenth Century) notes that there are "numerous borrowings" from ABDALLA in William Beckford's VATHEK. This English translation of ABDALLA was printed by William Bowyer, whose records state that 1000 copies were printed, some of which were later reissued with a cancel title page dated 1730. Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration: Invented and Apocryphal Narratives of Travel B35. McBurney, English Prose Fiction 1700-1739, 243. Negley, Utopian Literature 1285. NCBEL II 992. Early mend to the upper left corner of the title-page; occasional soiling, a very nice copy. (#136072).
Price: $2,250.00
No statement of printing.