This uncommon travel book, the fourth title in Zimmerman's annual compilations, is devoted entirely to America and features the first German description of California as it was under Spanish rule. This edition contains 10 handsome copperplate engravings and maps derived from Vancouver's A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Jakob Begert's Nachrichten von der Amerikanischen Halbinsel Californien. The two folding maps include Grundriss von Washington der Neuen Hauptstadt der Vereinigten Staaten von Nord America (8.2 x 6.7”), an early plan of Washington DC, and Karte von Nord Amerika (10.5 x 6.2”) which includes the short-lived state of Franklin erroneously identified in present-day Ohio. There are two single-page portraits; a Seminole Indian chief (Mico Chlucco) and Sir Hans Sloane, the founder of the British Museum. The remaining six folding plates show the mission at Monterey, California natives, California and Virginian landscapes, and a variety of flora and fauna. Complete, 32mo, 283 pages. Hardbound in olive green boards.

References: Old World Auctions - State of Franklin Maps #21.

Condition: B+

The two maps are clean and bright with the DC map having a 1.25" binding tear at left that has been archivally repaired and the US map has been issued trimmed to the neatline at left and right. Text and plates have light toning with a narrow damp stain in the top blank margin visible in the first two-thirds of the book. Title page and frontispiece contain a damp stain occupying one corner of each sheet. Covers and spine are rubbed and edges bumped.