SPILBERGEN, Joris Van and LE MAIRE, Jacob

by Joris Van and LE MAIRE, Jacob Spilbergen

£25,000 · Offered by Sokol Books

Richly illustrated first French translation of this popular account of Joris van Spilbergen s (1568-1620) circumnavigation and Jacob Le Maire s (1585-1616) account of Willem Schouten s (c.1577-1625) voyage to Australia between 1614-18, first published in Dutch 1619 with a Latin edition appearing in the same year. The maps include a fine folding world map after Ortelius as the frontispiece, the Manila Straits and the Moluccas, and a chart of Le Maire s voyage. The views of islands depict the often outsized local fauna, including monstrous fish, ostriches, sea lions, penguins, llamas and a condor, as well as a volcanic eruption in the Moluccas. Schouten s voyage took him around the southern tip of the Americas though avoiding the Magellan Straits and instead discovering the passage between Tierra del Fuego and Isla de Los Estados (now called Le Maire Strait) round Cape Horn and then across the Pacific to New Guinea. This was one of the most remarkable voyages ever undertaken and contributed much to the science of cartography, while the numerous versions in other languages attest its popularity, indicating how much the new passage into the Soutth Seas was appreciated (Cox I, p. 41). It was one of the most successful voyages ever undertaken by the Dutch. It resulted in the conquest of the Moluccas by the Dutch and greatly increased the power and the reputation of the Dutch East India Company (Cox I, p. 52). The Dutch were the first westerners to visit the North Tonga Islands, whi

• Binding: Hardcover

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