The Travels of Cyrus; to Which Is Annexed a Discourse upon the Theology and Mythology of the Pagans
Burlington: Isaac Neale, 1793. The Tenth Edition - First American Edition. 12mo, xx, 352 pages, period full leather with gilt-lettered spine label. Now in a protective archival box. First American edition of Andrew Michael Ramsay’s *The Travels of Cyrus*, an influential eighteenth-century philosophical romance combining history, moral instruction, political thought, and comparative religion. Framed as the travels of Cyrus the Great through the ancient world, the narrative uses encounters with rulers, philosophers, and different cultures to examine kingship, virtue, government, religion, and the origins of civilization. The volume concludes with Ramsay’s substantial discourse on the theology and mythology of the pagans, extending the work’s treatment of classical religion and ancient philosophical traditions. Ramsay, better known as the Chevalier Ramsay, was a Scottish-born writer and Freemason whose works circulated widely throughout Europe and the English-speaking world. This Burlington, New Jersey, printing of 1793 is of particular interest as the first American edition and as an early New Jersey imprint, with relevance to collections of eighteenth-century American printing, Enlightenment thought, classical mythology, comparative religion, and Freemasonry.
Evans 26052; Morsch 204; ESTC W28343. Large loss towards the top of the title page, loss to the top of the dedication page, formerly an institutionally held book with older bookplate and ink stamps, some foxing and discoloration, rubbing and wear, else in good + condition. Item #583
Price: $350.00