ITINERARIO, VOYAGE OFTE SCHIPVAERT...NAER OOST OFTE PORTUGAELS INDIEN....[bound with:] REYS-GHESCHRIFT VANDE NAVIGATIEN DER PORTUGALOYSERS IN ORIENTEN....[bound with:] BESCHRIJVINGE VANDE GANTSCHE CUSTE VAN GUINEA, MANICONGO, ANGOLA, MONOMOTAPA, ENDE TEGEN OVER DE CABO DE S. AUGUSTIJN IN BRASILIEN....
Linschoten, Jan Huygen van:
Amsterdam: Cornelis Claesz, 1596 - 1595 - 1596. Three parts bound in one volume (parts two and three bound in reverse order in this copy). Text in double columns. [8],160; 134,[4],135-147,[8]; 82,[1]pp. plus a total of six folding or double-page maps, thirty- six folding or double-page plates, and a single-page portrait of Linschoten. Folio. Contemporary vellum, elaborately tooled in gilt, spine with gilt compartments, silk ties, yapp edges. Recased, with new endpapers. Maps and folding plates with some occasional slight chipping or splits at folds, repaired on versos in some cases. Occasional tanning or foxing. Overall, a handsome copy, brilliantly colored. In a chemise and half morocco and cloth slipcase, spine gilt. A remarkable copy of the first edition of the most important description of the East Indies in the Age of Discovery, with beautiful early hand-coloring and in a handsome contemporary vellum binding, likely a special presentation copy. Linschoten's work was of tremendous importance, as it unlocked the secrets of Asian trade routes, once the exclusive domain of the Portuguese, for the rest of Europe Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611) a Dutchman born in Haarlem in 1563, had an "avaricious thirst for knowledge which enabled him to get detailed information of land and sea as far afield as the Spice Islands and China" (Penrose). Linschoten travelled to Goa in 1583 as a clerk of the newly-appointed Portuguese Archbishop of Goa. He made a few trips into India, compiling notes on his experiences, gleaned information on sea routes from Portuguese sailors, and collected information from other sources as well. Linschoten left India in 1589, hired as a pepper factor for the Fugger and Welser interests, where he learned about the organization and administration of the spice trade. Returning to Holland in 1592 (after a two-year stay in the Azores), he prepared his notes for the Amsterdam publisher, Claeszoon, in response to interest in the Netherlands and other European countries about commercial possibilities in Asia. As trade in the Far East was dependent on routes via America or Africa, his work eventually encompassed the entire globe, including Spanish and Portuguese activities in America. Linschoten's practical experience lent authenticity to his work, and it remains one of the most important of all travel books. Linschoten's ITINERARIO... and the two other works published in 1595 and 1596 (which should properly be found together, as here) soon was considered the single most significant source regarding the East and West Indies and numerous editions were published in Dutch, Latin, French, German, and English. Klooster describes the work as "a magnificent panorama of pictures and maps of the non-European world. ITINERARIO contained so much detailed and accurate information about shipping lanes, winds, and currents, that seafarers could use it virtually as a handbook. Many of his maps were in fact copies of the excellent models of the Portuguese cartographer Fernão Vaz Dourado." It was the most comprehensive account of the East and West Indies available at the beginning of the 17th century. As well as including important travel accounts taken from contemporary Portuguese, Dutch, and Spanish sources, it is the first work to include precise sailing instructions for the Indies, and, according to Church (and other authorities), "it was given to each ship sailing from Holland to India." The second section, REYS-GHESCHRIFT VANDE NAVIGATIEN..., was published in 1595, a year before the ITINERARIO..., and is bound last in this copy. The text gives detailed sailing directions for the East Indies, as well as for Brazil and the West Indies. The third part (bound second in this copy) gives an account of America on pages 17-82, especially the coastal regions, and includes information on the African coast as well. It is found here in its first state (see Church), and was published in 1596. The maps include van Langren's maps of the East Indies and South America (including the Caribbean and Florida), and the double- hemispherical world map of Plancius dated 1596 (Shirley 192). The marvellous plates include scenes of Asia, particularly Java, China, and India. Several of the plates depict activities in Goa, including a wonderful panoramic view of the market, while other plates depict Portuguese travellers on land and on sea. Linschoten's is an important work that served not only as a valuable record, but also as a catalyst for change in the balance of power amongst European trading nations in the east: "the navigator's vade mecum for the Eastern seas" (Penrose). When Linschoten returned from Goa to his home in the Netherlands, he did so at a time when the people of northern Europe and particularly his countrymen were especially interested in what he had to report concerning the trading activities of the Portuguese in the East. His most important and far-reaching observations concerned the gradual decline of Portuguese power in the East and her ability to protect her trade routes and monopolies. This, together with the trading possibilities he detailed, encouraged a series of Dutch, French, and English fleets to set sail for the Spice Islands, and beyond to China and Japan. Lach says that Linschoten's description of Goa is "one of the most original and reliable narratives prepared during the sixteenth century on life at the hub of Portugal's Eastern empire and still is regarded as one of the best sources for Goa's history at the peak of its glory....The original edition...contains a number of excellent maps, three of which are of great value for the study of Asia. These maps, which are much better and more detailed than earlier printed maps, were clearly derived from the latest and best Portuguese charts of the Eastern oceans and sea coasts" - Lach. Parry calls Linschoten's work "a journal of human adventure and observation, an uplifting story that appeals on many levels." "Fine copies of this work with all the maps and plates are extremely rare" - Church catalogue. A work of tremendous consequence and importance, here in a handsome copy with lovely contemporary hand-coloring. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 596/63 & 596/64. JCB I, pp.343-345. SHIRLEY 192, 182. SABIN 41356. TIELE 84-87. KLOOSTER, DUTCH IN THE AMERICAS, p.8 & catalogue item 5. David E. Parry, THE CARTOGRAPHY OF THE EAST INDIAN ISLANDS, p.84-85. CHURCH 252. HOWGEGO L131. BORBA DE MORAES, pp.486-487. WAGNER, NORTHWEST COAST 184. Lach, ASIA IN THE MAKING OF EUROPE, volume 1, pp.198-204 & 482-489.
(Item ID: WRCAM41708) $275,000.00