| Jan Huygen van Linschoten — Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert. naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien |
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Itinerario, Voyage ofte Schipvaert. naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien |
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Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz 1596 - 1595 - 1596., 1596. 3 parts in one volume. Folio (11 6/8 x 7 1/8 inches). Gothic and roman type in double columns, four vignette title-pages: that for part 3 the twin-hemisphere world map by Jodocus Hondius (Shirley 182), engraved portrait of Linschoten, 34 double-page and/or folding engraved plates of views and two large maps of Goa and Angra dated 1595 by Johannes and Baptist van Deutecum after Linschoten (the plates bound out of order), 5 folding maps by Arnold and Hendrik van Langren, and a folding map of the world by Jan Baptist Vrient (Shirley 192), woodcut ornamental initials (some soiling and occasional minor staining, a few frayed edges, a few leaves lightly browned, scattered marginal dampstains, lacking conjugate leaf Cc2.5, a duplicate of conjugate leaf Cc1.6 bound in in its place, fol. B3 of part III with corner torn affecting pagination, small tears to center folds of the large folding plate between pp. 42 and 43 and of four of the maps, a few folds reinforced, a few minor marginal tears to the maps and the plates, the map of the coast of Africa (p. 24) defective: edges cropped with loss to border, repairs along 2 folds, one affecting the image and the text in cartouches, and probably supplied from a later edition). 17th-century speckled calf, spine in seven compartments with six raised bands, morocco lettering-piece in one (skillfully rebacked preserving the original spine, extremities scuffed). Provenance: Contemporary Dutch ownership inscription at the head of the title-page; Pierre S. du Pont III (1911-1988), Collection of Navigation. First edition of all three parts, and EXCEEDINGLY RARE. "This important work contains all the knowledge and learning related to the East and West Indies and navigations to those parts that was available at the end of the sixteenth century. It was held in such high esteem that for nearly a century a copy was given to each ship sailing to India as a guide to the sailing directions. The fact that most copies were in continual use is in no doubt the reason that FINE COPIES , EXPECIALLY WITH ALL CORRECT PLATES AND MAPS , ARE SO VERY RARE" (Hill). Linschoten travelled extensively, he went to Goa between 1583 and 1589, and joined Willem Barents's first and second voyages into the Kara Sea in 1594 and 1595, and he combined his first hand accounts with translations of original Spanish and Portuguese documents. "Linschoten's work, along with Hakluyt's, served as a direct stimulus to the building of the vast English and Dutch overseas empires" (Hill). Borba de Moraes [1983], pp. 486-7; Church 252; JCB 1 (II): pp. 344-45; "this very rare first edition" Sabin 41356. Purchased at Christie's 8th October 1991, lot 149. |
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