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In a Contemporary Binding.

A nice example in a contemporary binding of the 1622 sixth edition of Thomas Blundeville's foundational work on practical mathematics, navigation, and mapmaking, often called "His Exercises". This lengthy work laid the groundwork for cartographic and maritime education during the Jacobean and Early Stuart era. It played a pivotal role in formalizing instructional materials as England rose to prominence as a global sea power.

Blundeville's "Exercises" were initially published in six parts, encompassing a concise overview of arithmetic, cosmography, the usage of globes, a universal map, the astrolabe, and navigation. While the arithmetic section drew inspiration from the works of Record, it also incorporated trigonometric tables, borrowed from Clavius, featuring the natural sines, tangents, and secants of all angles within the first quadrant, with a minute difference between consecutive angles. Impressively, these tables were calculated to seven decimal places. This marked a significant milestone, as it represents the earliest introduction of plane trigonometry in the English language.

D.W. Waters, The Art of Navigation in England in Elizabethan and Early Stuart Times, London, 1958, pages 213-215:

Blundeville's Exercises have a triple interest. They consist of a series of treatises on mathematical, astronomical, and navigational knowledge necessary for a young man wishing to master fully the art of navigation as practised in the closing years of Elizabeth I's long reign. Besides some original contributions of his own to the art of navigation, Blundeville in his treatise was the first Englishman to describe the use of the tables of the three trigonometrical functions--sine, tangent, and secant... He drew freely upon the works of the various writers for definitions, illustrations, examples, and tables, and thus presented to the student an authoritative and up-to-date synthesis of the theories and practices of the art of navigation in the 1590s.

The first edition of the "Exercises" was published in London by John Windet in 1594.

Content on Exploration and the Americas

The book contains lengthy passages about voyages and contemporary explorers, some of which include personal commentary by Blundeville (e.g., "...from this Bay Sir Francis himselfe (as I have heard ) was of very good wil to have sayled stil more Northward...") He also makes use of lengthy translations and transcriptions from the more important globes (i.e. Molyneux's) and world maps (i.e., Plancius's) of the latter decades of the 16th century.

As noted by Sabin (6024), pages 515-520 include accounts of "Sir Francis Drake's First Voyage unto the West and East Indies; both outward and homeward" and "the Voyage of M. Candish [Thomas Cavendish], unto the West and East Indies":

In the great terrestrial Globe lately put forth by P. Sanderson and P. Molineux, the Voyage as-well of Sir Francis Drake, as of M. Thomas Candish, is set downe, and shewed by helpe of two lines, the one red, the other blue, where-of the red line proceding first from Plymouth, Doth shew what course Sir Francis observed in all his voyage, aswell outward as homeward, and the blue line proceding also from Plymouth, sheweth in like manner the Voyage of M. Candish, and in that Globe is also ſet downe how farre Sir Martin Forbusher discouered towards the North parts. But first I will describe unto you the Voyage of Sir Francis Drake that worthy Knight and most Noble Neptune, according as that red line directeth in the layd Globe...

On the Drake on the West Coast of North America:

...Northward he sayled to Cape S. Francesco, which having in North latitude I. degree 30 minutes, is distant from Cape Guija 170. leagues, from thence he sayled still Northerly to the Cape Mondecino, which is in the Land called Quivira, and this Cape having in North Latitude, 40. degrees, is distant by that course from S. Frnecso 1740. leagues, from thence he sayled still Northward unto a certaine Bay in the West part of Quivira, which hee named Nova Albion (that is to say) new England, having in North latitude 46 degrees, is distant fro[m] the Cape Mondecino 140. leagues. And this was ye furthest part of his voiage outward, in which voiage he sailed in all 5780. leagues, from this Bay Sir Francis himselfe (as I have heard ) was of very good wil to have sayled stil more Northward, hoping to find passage through ye narrow sea Anian, which sea is not set downe by M. Molineux in his Terestriall Globe as a straight, but rather as a maine sea, bearing in breadth 400 leauges, and so from thence to have taken his course Northeast, and so to return by the Isles Crockland and Croyneland into England: but his Mariners finding the Coast of Nova Albinon to be very cold, had no good wil to saile any further Northward, wherefore Sir Francis was saine to come back againe Southward to Mondecino, which (as hath been said before) is distant from the foresaid Bay of Nova Albion 140. leagues...

Pages 523-7 include "A plaine and full description of Plancius his universall Mappe, set forth in the yeere of our Lord 1592..."

...but Plancius, by dividing America into three parts, that is, into Mexicana, Peruana, and Magellanica, divideth the whole Earth into sixe parts, that is to say, Europe, Asia, Afrique, and into the three parts of America last mentioned, according to which division, he described the Earth in the French Tongue in sixteens pages, set downe at the foot of his Mappe.

The book contains lengthy descriptions of New France and the East Coast of North America translated from French translations of Latin notes on Plancius's 1592 wall map of the world. These include comments on the dispositions of various Indigenous tribes ("...they eat as those of Florida, certaine kind of Spiders, Ants or Pismires, Leazards, Adders and other venomous beasts.")

Provenance

Early ownership inscriptions of W. Legge, John Elly, and Thomas Boys.
Sotheby's, The Honeyman Collection, Part 1, lot 358, £650.
Private American collection.