De Bry Rare Books
"Mundus Alter et Idem" - Joseph Hall - 1643 - Australia
"Mundus Alter et Idem" - Joseph Hall - 1643 - Australia
"Mundus Alter et Idem . Authore Mercurio Britannico"
-Written by Joseph Hall
-3rd Edition Published by Johannes Waesberg, Utrecht, 1643
-Small duodecimo
-Bound in contemporary vellum with yapp edges and 19th century gold lettering.
With 5 (of 5) maps including the celebrated world map with the imaginary Southern Continent (with small 1cm tear).
-Engraved TP, 10 introductory pages, 212 text pages. Here without the publisher's title page (probably removed as this work does not contain the other works) and bound without Thomas Campanelae's Civitas Solis or Francis Bacon's Nova Atlantis as is often the case.
Joseph Hall's Mundus Alter et Idem is a famous allegorical tale of an imaginary voyage to the great southern continent. It was intended as a thinly veiled attack on England at the time. During the voyage to the Southern Seas he visits the imaginary lands of Carpulia, Viraginia, Moronia and Lavernia - countries populated by gluttons, nags, fools and thieves respectively.