First edition of an intriguing illustrated travelogue by a Physician the son of Sir Thomas Brown.

863J Edward Brown 1644-1708. 

An account of several travels through a great part of Germany: in four journeys I. From Norwich to Colen. II. From Colen to Vienna, with a particular description of that imperial city. III. From Vienna to Hamburg. IV. From Colen to London. Wherein the mines, baths, and other curiosities of those parts are treated of. Illustrated with sculptures. By Edward Brown M.D. Fellow of the College of Physicians of London, and of the Royal Society.

London: Printed for Benj. Tooke, 1677.                        Price $2,500

Folio 20 x 15 cm. (4),179pp. Signatures: A²-B-Z⁴ Aa²; Plus 1 page of publisher’s ads. Illustrated with 6 copper engraved plates (3 are double-page & 1 with an old repair)

 Bound in modern antiqued boards, paper label on front cover. Title and final leaf a bit browned.


 This travel book is line by line amusing, A great look at early modern customs very detailed . He mentions the arrangement for letters of credit for international travel. Our learned author/traveler was the son of Thomas Brown and visited not only museums but also the the  intelengensia. He visits with numerous Authors and Aristrocrats, He even mentions those who he missed visiting, including the poetess Anna Maria Skurman. He also visits the a museum dedicated to Printing assigning Laurentius Costerus as the father of the invention, although Brown attributes it to Gottenburg!

Browne’s Travels exemplifies the transitional moment in natural history between Renaissance curiosity and the more systematic sciences of the Enlightenment. Like Robert Boyle and the Royal Society contemporaries, Browne prized first-hand observation, precise description, and the collection of data about the natural world. His interests in mines, baths, minerals, and remedies demonstrate how travel literature functioned as a vehicle for disseminating natural history, offering readers in England a vivid survey of central Europe’s natural and medical resources.He goes little native by Drinking out a Unicorn horn, from a Sea-Unicorn . It is a truly fantastic voyage! His interest lay in the intellectual ordering of nature, including unusual phenomena (plants, animals, stones, medical oddities) framed within moral and philosophical reflection.

“A very interesting work, with acute observations and judgements; of particular importance is the information Browne provides on early mines and mining techniques” (Blackmer).  Browne grew up whetting his intellect on his famous father’s library, and as an adult embarked on several grand tours through Europe.

Brown approach was shaped by the culture of collecting in the seventeenth century, where natural specimens were valued as part of a larger intellectual attempt to order the natural world.His reports reveal an acute attention to the curious objects he encountered on his travels, as well as a healthy interest in books and librarians—in Vienna, he befriended Ludwig’s famous librarian Peter Lambeck. In his accounts he devotes special attention to the mining operations he encounters, as well as to the “curious artificers” he meets in Germany, who work surprisingly cheaply and whose work is inspected for fraud by government officials. The Charming engravings depict The whirlpool in the Danube-river, St. Stephen’s cathedral in Vienna, Fshes of the Danube-river, The bear-garden of the Elector of Saxony in Dresden, And miners. All but one of these intriguing plates are signed John Oliver1616-1701, engraver. 

Where His Sir Thomas see https://jamesgray2.me/2025/08/29/31678/ used books and correspondence to weigh “vulgar errors,” Edward walked into mines, tasted mineral waters, interviewed apothecaries, and toured collections. Edward’s text resonates strongly with the program of the Royal Society, of which he was a Fellow: careful description, reliance on first-hand observation, and interest in the practical uses of natural knowledge. Edward Browne’s Travels treats movement through Europe not as picturesque diversion but as a way of gathering knowledge systematically. His investigations of mines, baths, collections, libraries, and natural curiosities with the eye of a physician trained in the new sciences.
His narrative is organized around places of knowledge (mines, baths, libraries) rather than mere sights or anecdotes.

ESTC No.: R19778; Wing B5109. see Duveen Alchemy, p. 103 (second edition) Arber’s Term cat.; I 253;  Kress Lib : S.1447; Goldsmiths’-Kress no. 02195.0.; OCLC,; 20888835

https://datb.cerl.org/estc/R19778

JAMESGRAY2@ME.COM