MAWE, John (1764-1829).
Travels in the Interior of Brazil, particularly in the Gold and Diamond Districts, including a Voyage to the Rio de la Plata, and an historical sketch of the Revolution of Buenos Ayres.
London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1812.

Comparables: Bonham's, 2014 - $2,000; Doyle, 2012 - $1,625.

4to., (10 1/2" x 8 1/4"). Engraved frontispiece (quite spotted), engraved map of the route, one plate of minerals with original hand-colour and heightened with gold and gum arabic, and six uncoloured plates (some spotting, browning and offsetting). Contemporary calf (rebacked, recoloured, extremities a bit worn with loss).

Provenance: with the engraved armorial bookplate of the Osborn family on the front paste-down; and the modern bookplate of A. Bernardes de Oliveira on the front free endpaper.

First edition, and the first book in English to reveal the extent of Brazil's mineral wealth. Mawe was a successful dealer in minerals before and after his successful expedition to Brazil: "On 1 August 1804 Mawe set off on an ambitious voyage of commercial experiment to South America. In 1809 he was allowed by the prince regent of Portugal, later John VI (1769-1826), to travel inland to the gold and diamond mining districts of Brazil, which were at the time closed to other Europeans by the Portuguese government. Mawe's many crises and adventures there were recorded in his best-selling Travels in the Interior of Brazil (1812), which went through several English editions, was translated into eight other European languages, and was on board the Beagle with Charles Darwin. However, the book caused later problems for other European visitors: members of the Portuguese government thought that many of the facts revealed should have remained unrecorded and so once again restricted access to the mining districts" (H. S. Torrens for DNB). Borba de Moraes II:40.[72lib813]