This book bears an ornate, emblematic engraved title-page, with portraits of St. Brendan and Boyl and more, and no fewer than 18 leaf-filling plates by Wolfgang Kilian. These plates, which mixfancy and realism in entirely engaging ways, include a portrait of Columbus, a scene of St. Brendan celebrating mass on the back of a whale, botanical images of the marvelous Peruvian potato, and numerous views of the missionaries’interaction with the natives, some friendly, and some not—the unfriendliest being notably violent and gory. Also, on p. 35–36 is given an example of purportednative American music, with both words and notation. This copy is one (probably the first) of two states of this sole edition (with only three leaves in the preliminaries), without the additional foldout plate found in some copies.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 621/100; Sabin 63367; Palau 224762. Binding as above and shown at left (distortion noted), chipped on corners and at head and foot of spine. Small wormholes visible on inside of covers, running into margins of pages and plates, and a few closed tears, neither affecting print or plates. Engraved title remounted. Small stains, light spots of waterstaining, and light soiling. A very covetable illustrated Americanum of the early 17th century, in an enjoyable copy.

The naval forces were under the command of Commodore David Porter and were in those waters to fight piracy.

•  Very good condition. Written in a clear hand.  (24648)

Single-click either image for an enlargement.

•  On Gage, see: The Dictionary of National Biography, XX, 353–55. Recent marbled paper over light boards. Second and third blank leaves pasted together. Some light soiling, and some chipping and tears without apparent loss of text. Rubber-stamps from a now-defunct library. The paper here is decidedly blue; the hand is very readable.

•  Publisher's gilt-stamped green cloth. Lightly toned. Small abrasion on two pages, not affecting text. A very good copy.  (23652)

A good example of the solid, workaday English law-printing of its period, opening with an attractive foliate initial crowned with a seated griffin.

•  ESTC N57352. Removed from a nonce volume. Pages clean save for some very minor browning in outer margins.

•  This ed. not in NSTC. Removed from a nonce volume. Page edges slightly darkened, otherwise clean. (16757)

Jamaica

    Some of both the voyages and the maps make their first published appearances here—among them the New England map depicting the Maryland and Virginia coastlines, engraved by R. Michault after one contained in Richard Blome’s Description of the Island of Jamaica, part of which work appears here translated into French. Altogether, a volume notable both for its strong African and North American content and for the aesthetic appeal of its plates and pleasingly ornamented typography.

Click the interior image for an enlargement.

The author was the cosmographer and historiographer of the Dutch East India Company as well as the Dutch royal family's official translator.

This is one of the scarcest volumes in commerce of the Elzevirs' series of histories in the Respublica series. It is only the third copy we have had in our 30+ years in the antiquarian book business.

•  Willems 313; Rahir 284; European Americana 629/79; Palau 129562; Sabin 38560; Borba de Moraes (2nd ed.), Bibliographia brasiliana, I, 450.   Recased in contemporary Dutch vellum over paste boards. Red leather spine label, abraded and sunned. Tiny pin-type wormhole in margin of first three leaves, and silverfish damage to final blank and rear privilege leaf, costing a few letters of the privilege, but not impairing sense. Ownership inscription at base of title-page has been inked through. A clean decent copy of this nice little book.  (24335)

This is first edition of Bartolomé de las Casas's third tract advocating the better treatment of Amerindians by the Spanish. In it he offers 20 detailed suggestions for the better treatment of the natives, including such basics as that they should be secure in their homes. He also flat out calls for the end of the encomienda system and for the placing of all Indians under the direct protection of the crown. All of the tracts are of great significance, both for their immediate effect in reforming the Spanish colonial system to some degree, and as an extremely early example of European concern with the human rights of native people.

The text is printed in gothic (i.e., “black letter”) as was the custom for “legal” and religious texts. The title-page is printed in red and black, with the text surrounded by a four-panel woodcut border.

Evidence of readership: A half dozen contemporary annotations and textual corrections.

•  Alden & Landis, European Americana, 552/9; Sabin 11229; Medina, BHA, 146. Church 89; JCB (3), I, 169; Index Aurel. 132.872; Palau 46942. Full modern deep claret-colored morocco. Round spine with raised bands, each of which is accented above and below by gilt beading. Gilt center devices in blank spine compartments, others with author and title information in gilt lettering. Covers tooled in gilt with rules and rolls forming concentric panels. Gilt corner devices. Marbled endpapers. Minor instances of soiling on title-page, two areas of verso of title-page reinforced. Minor age-toning and soiling, top portion of a few leaves brown-stained. Lower corners of leaves c8 & f4 lacking, restored; nine letters supplied in manuscript facsimile on c8 and four on f4. Lacks final blank leaf. A good copy, untattered.

Coverage of events is wide-ranging and includes Russia, Lithuania, Persia, Byzantium, and the New World. Columbus, Vespucci, and native American cannibalism are discussed under the year 1500; and under 1558 there is a combined account of the exploits of Pizarro in Peru and Cortés in Mexico, with some discussion of Brazil and other areas up to that time.

Printed in small roman type with side- and shouldernotes, historiated woodcut initials, and a printer’s device on the title-page.

•  VD16 S10244; Adams S2099; Alden 568/30; Sabin 93882. Modern full dark calf, in style of the 16th-century including bevelled boards; remnants of clasps retained from an earlier binding. Signature or other ownership mark excised from blank area of title-page. 19th-century ownership inscription at base of title-page. Light waterstaining in some margins. Lacks final blank leaf (only). A very good copy.

•  Very Good condition, in recent wrappers.

In this work printed in Philadelphia, Vidaurre calls for republican reforms in Peru. This was a major change of political stance for him, for he had loyally served the crown in both his native Peru and, after the commencement of the Wars of Independence, in Spain. His attack on the Spanish political system and call for liberal republican reforms involves passionate denunciation of slavery, and his "renuncia" (pp. 197-225) speaks at length about Cuba's current socio-political conditions and explains why Cuba should follow the lead of the former Spanish colonies of the American mainland. On the basis of this work, which is dedicated to Simón Bolívar, The Liberator appointed Vidaurre head of the supreme court at Trujillo.

•  Sabin 99491; Shaw & Shoemaker 14780. On Vidaurre, see: Archivo biográfico de España, Portugal, e Iberoamérica, fiche 1012, frames 251-56 & 261-62. Modern quarter green morocco and marbled paper sides. Foxing, some staining. Complete with the errata leaf, and solid.