Discovery by Miriam Estensen

Discovery

The Quest for the Great South Land

by Miriam Estensen

Allen & Unwin, 1998, [First Edition], ISBN 1864484977, illustrated coloured plates, illustrated endpapers, illustrated frontispiece, hardcover, dustjacket

Near Fine Condition, minor edge and shelf wear, no inscriptions, dustjacket shows minor edge and shelf wear (See photographs)

“Six centuries before the birth of Christ, people began to imagine an immense land at the bottom of the world, a land of marvels, of enormous wealth and mystery.  Discovery is the story of the quest which compelled men in small ships to traverse unknown seas, to endure extra-ordinary hardships, to slowly unveil the sixth continent.
The story begins among Greek philosophers on the shores of the Mediterranean.  It ends two millennia later in the vast Southern Ocean.  Lucidly and concisely, Miriam Estensen tells an absorbing tale of mapmakers and lonely caravels, Spanish hidalgos and Dutch merchants, remote coasts and castaways, buccaneers, and dreamers.”