Raleigh’s History of the World in Five Books

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Sir Walter Raleigh, for whom North Carolina’s capitol city was named, was an English explorer, soldier and writer, and a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I.  He was knighted in 1585, became a captain of the Queen’s guard, and explored the “new world” from North Carolina to what is now Florida.  Between 1584 and 1589 Raleigh established a colony near Roanoke Island, North Carolina—now usually referred to as “the lost colony”— from which all the settlers eventually disappeared, leaving history to ponder their fate.

Raleigh was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, but he lost her favor when he courted, and subsequently married, Elizabeth Throckmorton, one of Elizabeth’s maids-of-honor.  Elizabeth imprisoned Raleigh in the Tower of London for over four years, but in 1595 he was released and continued with his explorations.  Elizabeth’s successor, James I, distrusted Raleigh, charged him with treason and condemned him to death, but commuted the sentence to imprisonment in the Tower.  While imprisoned for a second time, Raleigh wrote his History of the World in Five Books.

  It was originally intended to be three volumes, but he only completed the first one.  He was released in 1616 for more exploration, this time to search for gold in South America, but was forced to return to England and was arrested on order of the King.  King James invoked Raleigh’s original death sentence, and he was executed at Westminster on October 18, 1618.

Thanks to Dr. William Blackburn, the library is fortunate to have a 1671 printing of Raleigh’s History of the World in Five Books.  It was donated to the library by Dr. Blackburn, a noted professor in the English Dept. at Duke University, and noted scholar of Elizabethan poetry.  As indicated by an inscription on the flyleaf of the book, it was given to him by his students at Duke in ENG 143-44 for his birthday in 1967.  Another inscription on the flyleaf shows previous ownership by Philip A. Robson, FRIBA (Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects), College of London, Sheffield, 1924.

A postcard addressed to P.A. Robson, Esq., was donated with the book, the back of which has copious notes regarding the signature sections of the volume.  It would be interesting to know who owned the copy between its printing in 1671 and Mr. Robson’s acquiring the copy in 1924, but that is often one of the mysteries of old books!