Beschrijvinghe van het Machtigh Koninghrijcke Japan … …

A$15,000 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

Amsterdam : Joost Hartgers, 1652. Small quarto, later quarter vellum over marbled papered boards, spine with manuscript title in black ink; title with woodcut vignette of two ships, pp 78; headpiece, historiated initials, side notes; a fine copy. Caron s rare and highly important contemporary description of Japan was first published in 1648 as part of Joost Hartgers Oost-Indische Voyagien door dien Begin en Voortgangh, van de Vereenighde Nederlandtsche Geoctroyeerde Ost-indische Compagnie . This extraordinary Collection of Voyages is sometimes called the Dutch De Bry or the Dutch Hulsius ; for in beauty of execution and intrinsic interest it rivals both of those famous collections. In point of rarity there is no comparison, this being scarcely known to bibliographers. How many parts Hartgerts published is even now uncertain, although the most active research has been made by collectors of Voyages and Travels for many years. The parts were probably issued and sold separately, and their collection into sets, with a collective title, preface, etc., was an afterthought. This collection has an advantage over De Bry and Hulsius, in that many of the voyages are in the language in which they were originally written, while most of those by De Bry and Hulsius are translations (Bartlett, Bibliotheca Americana , Vol. II., pp. 261-2). That the present copy of the 1652 edition of Beschrijvinghe van het Machtigh Koninghrijcke Japan was separately issued is beyond dispute; however, whether i

• Binding: Hardcover

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