Custodian: University of Glasgow Library Special Collections

Reference: Sp Coll Bm3-l.12

A Description of the Island of Jamaica; with the other isles and territories in America, to which the English are related... is an early example of a publication describing the topography, climate and culture of many of the Caribbean islands and east-coast territories in present-day USA and Canada. The contents are based on notes made by Thomas Lynch (knighted 1670 or 1671; d. 1684), a sugar planter and governor of Jamaica in 1671–4 and 1682–4 and others, and was published by specialist bookseller and cartographer, Richard Blome (d. 1705), in London in 1672. Each chapter begins with a decorated page; the book is illustrated with several maps.

(Additional information: Trevor Burnard, 'Lynch, Sir Thomas'; S. Mendyk, 'Blome, Richard', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition [accessed 14 November 2013.)