DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.9695#0062
lx
INTRODUCTION
cover, is bound in white vellum, and contains, inclusive of
the Preface and some leaves inserted and not numbered,
510 foolscap pages. The part done by the copyist, fols.
1 — 111, is in a beautiful seventeenth century clerkly hand,
while Peter Mundy's own writing is of an earlier style,
more difficult to decipher, but regular and well formed. Of
the 247 fols. as numbered by Mundy, 150 deal with India
and the East. The MS., which is in excellent preserva-
tion, contains 117 illustrations, all apparently executed
by the author in and after the year 1639. It has besides
six engravings and six double-page maps by Hondius.
On these Mundy has marked his routes with red dotted
lines. All the maps, except that of the World, indicate
the journeys described in Relations I. to III. Though
Mundy apologises for his illustrations, and says that he
has " no skill in portraicture1," most of the spirited pen-
and-ink drawings which adorn his work are quite worthy
of their place therein. Those, however, which are repro-
duced in the present volume are not among his best, and
hardly give a fair idea of his skill as a draughtsman.
Many of the pictures, as the author tells us, were not
"taken att Sight...butt long after, by apprehension off
such things seene," and were drawn on loose papers which
could be replaced if he should " perchaunce cause them to
bee better Don1."
Harl. MS. 2286, which has been carefully collated
with Rawl. MS. A. 315, as far as was necessary for the
present volume, was, as previously stated, copied from the
original in 1634 and left with Sir Paul Pindar. It contains
no illustrations, is in an excellent clerk's hand and in good
preservation. It has been in the custody of the British
Museum since 1759 and was catalogued by Humfrey
Wanley for the Earl of Oxford some time before 1726.
Wanley's remarks are worth quoting :—Harl. MS. 2286.
" A Book in folio, not negligently written, rather seeming
to be prepared for the press ; which at the beginning is
1 See p. 4.
INTRODUCTION
cover, is bound in white vellum, and contains, inclusive of
the Preface and some leaves inserted and not numbered,
510 foolscap pages. The part done by the copyist, fols.
1 — 111, is in a beautiful seventeenth century clerkly hand,
while Peter Mundy's own writing is of an earlier style,
more difficult to decipher, but regular and well formed. Of
the 247 fols. as numbered by Mundy, 150 deal with India
and the East. The MS., which is in excellent preserva-
tion, contains 117 illustrations, all apparently executed
by the author in and after the year 1639. It has besides
six engravings and six double-page maps by Hondius.
On these Mundy has marked his routes with red dotted
lines. All the maps, except that of the World, indicate
the journeys described in Relations I. to III. Though
Mundy apologises for his illustrations, and says that he
has " no skill in portraicture1," most of the spirited pen-
and-ink drawings which adorn his work are quite worthy
of their place therein. Those, however, which are repro-
duced in the present volume are not among his best, and
hardly give a fair idea of his skill as a draughtsman.
Many of the pictures, as the author tells us, were not
"taken att Sight...butt long after, by apprehension off
such things seene," and were drawn on loose papers which
could be replaced if he should " perchaunce cause them to
bee better Don1."
Harl. MS. 2286, which has been carefully collated
with Rawl. MS. A. 315, as far as was necessary for the
present volume, was, as previously stated, copied from the
original in 1634 and left with Sir Paul Pindar. It contains
no illustrations, is in an excellent clerk's hand and in good
preservation. It has been in the custody of the British
Museum since 1759 and was catalogued by Humfrey
Wanley for the Earl of Oxford some time before 1726.
Wanley's remarks are worth quoting :—Harl. MS. 2286.
" A Book in folio, not negligently written, rather seeming
to be prepared for the press ; which at the beginning is
1 See p. 4.