A Voyage to South America: Describing at Large the Spanish Cities, Towns, Provinces, Etc, on That Extensive Continent Undertaken, By Command of the King of Spain

London: Lockyer Davis. Good with no dust jacket. 1772. Third Edition. Leather. 2 volumes, octavo. Xxiv, 479; [4], 419, [15] + [1] ad pp. Seven engraved folding plates including the frontispiece map of South America in Volume I, (8vo) period calf, lettered in gilt on red morocco spine label, raised bands. Third Edition Important scientific and historical researches on South America, first published in 1758. This edition is the first to include an Appendix on Brazil by John Adams. Leather is smooth, joints are cracking, spine leather bit dry, labels faded, extremities rubbed. Interiors have a number of different ownership stamps, including two on the first title page. All folding plates are present and intact, just starting to split along the folds in a few cases. Foxing throughout , some pages darker than others, but otherwise clean and unmarked. Both Juan and Ulloa were scientists, sent to study the degree of meridian arc at the equator. They spent many years in Ecuador and South America making important observations and discovering the element platinum. "This party carried on a series of operations of unexampled difficulty and encountered hardships and sufferings which demanded the strength of the strongest constitutions and the energy of minds stimulated by a love of science. Much information was collected and published, which has been reproduced in other works on South America "(Cox). On the return trip, Ulloa was captured by the British and imprisoned but eventually so impressed British scientists that he was released and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of London. He is also credited with the first museum of natural history. A good copy of the important 3rd edition, complete with all plates. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall .