[COTTON, CHARLES (1630-1687)]. The Wonders of The Peake. London: J. Wallis, for Joanna Brome, 1683.
SECOND EDITION. Leather-bound, hardcover, octavo (18.5 x 12 x 1 cm.), pp. [4], 86. English text. Bound in contemporary panelled reverse calf, initial and terminal blanks present, printed footnotes. Condition: FAIR. The binding is secure, although, the joints are cracked with some loss of the spine covering. Interior with some light toning and spotting. Bookplate to front pastedown. Previous owner signature to front endpaper and title-page. Scarce.
Notes: The second edition of Charles Cotton's celebrated topographical poem, first published in 1681. Composed in heroic couplets, the work, at least in part, satirises Thomas Hobbes' De Mirabilibus Pecci (1636), then newly translated into English (1676). Hobbes' catalogue of the choice natural and manufactured attractions across the region became a popular tourist itinerary for the aristocracy; Cotton exploits this vogue, providing waggish descriptions of the 'seven wonders' of the Peak District, including:- Pool's Hole (Page 5), St Anne's Well Buxton (page 20), Tydeswell (page 24), Elden-Hole (page 30), Mamtor (page 41), Peake's-Arse (page 47), and Chatsworth (page 72). The early pages discuss Mary Queen of Scots' stay in the Peak before her unhappy transfer to Fotheringhay. Cotton's printed footnotes occur through the work, including a reference to Thomas Hobbes.
