Hesse, Johannes Witte de:

$18,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

ITINERARIUS IOANNIS DE HESE PRESBYTERIA HIERUSALEM DESCRIBENS DISPOSITIONES TERRARUM INSULARUM.... A rare edition of this early travel narrative, giving an account of the journey of Johannes de Hesse, encompassing the Holy Land and other regions, in 1389. In a similar vein with Mandeville's travels, Hesse's work provides the reader with a fantastic and extremely engaging narrative - he encounters cannibals, pygmies, and a unicorn; sees a parting of the sea, which enables him to reach a holy shrine; finds and visits the Garden of Eden; and spends a significant amount of time visiting the legendary (and mythical) Prester John in his oriental palace. Like Mandeville's travels, Hesse's ITINERARIUS is significant for its place in the development of travel literature. It was popular enough to have been printed in seven editions from about 1490 to 1500, in Cologne, Antwerp, and Deventer. Includes a full-page woodcut printer's device on the verso of the final leaf.

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