LAET, Johannes de [with] [ABELIN, Johann Philippx, COOTWIJK, Johannes van, DRECHSLER, Wolfgang, FARGHANI, SIONITA, Gabriel, HESRONITA, Johannes]

£1,750 · Offered by Sokol Books

First editions of these two interesting works on Persia and Arabia, designed for of investors interested in the opportunities afforded by the trade opening up in the New World and the East, especially clients of the relatively new Dutch West and East India companies. De Laet (best known for his History of the New World), was a founding director of the Dutch West India Company, and remained a director until his death. He dedicated the first work to the English antiquary William Boswell, having spent some time in London, to learn the trade of a merchant; he corresponded regularly with William Camden, Sir Henry Spelman, Sir Simonds D Ewes and other English scholars. His work is divided into two parts, the first gives a general description of the region, including eight charming and accurate full page woodcuts of Persians in costume, probably inspired by earlier works such as Nicolay s on the Turks. The second part gives short and important accounts of various travels into into the east, some taken from Ramusio, including the journeys of several Englishmen such as Cartwright, Joseph Salbank and Robert Covert, Richard Steele, and John Newberry. "Cet ouvrage, dit Boucher de la Richardie, est plus recherch é pour les relations que J. de Laet a jointes √† sa description de la Perse, que pour sa description m√™me, qui est très-superficielle. . Les écrits g éographiques de Laet sont r édig és avec beaucoup de soin et d'exactitude; ils ont encore de int éret aujourd'hui, parce qu'ils se

• Binding: Hardcover

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