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Important description of India and portions of Africa, expanded from the first edition published four years earlier. Thomas Herbert (c.1606-1682) spent four years on the two continents, and tells in detail of the people, places, and histories of the various countries. The illustrations are quite marvelous; eight of the illustrations have contemporary hand coloring, somewhat crude. Cox notes that Herbert's narrative "is of considerable importance from an historical point of view, as giving us the only detailed account available of the first English Embassy to Persia, to say nothing of the information afforded concerning the redoubtable Shah Abbas and his chief servants... He commenced his travels in 1626-7 and returned to England in December, 1629. He went out to Persia in the train of Sir Dodmore Cotton, accredited as Ambassador to the Shah of Persia. He also visited the Cape of Good Hope, Madagascar, and Surat... His account of these travels is written in a lively and agreeable style..." Sabin notes that "in returning to England, Herbert coasted the eastern shores of North America, which gives him occasion to display some erudition on the subject of the discovery of the New World..." Indeed, the final chapter of Herbert's work is titled "Madoc ap Owen Gwyneth discovered America above three hundred yeeres before Columbus." Cox I, p.248; Sabin 31471; STC 13191.