HESSE, Johannes de.

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Itinerarius per diversas mundi partes; Rare first Deventer edition of this collection of eight medieval and early modern travel narratives to Asia, together composing the "first printed collection of traveller's tales concerning the East" (Rogers 1961, p. 29). Centred on the lore of Prester John and the Christian peoples dwelling beyond the lands of Islam, these are key texts which later inspired Western Europe to establish contact with further Asia in the age of discovery.This is one of six editions of this collection published towards the end of the century, the others being one printed in Antwerp by Govaert Back between 3 July 1496 and 1499, one in Deventer by Richardus Pafraet in 1499, and three by Cornelis de Zierikzee about 1500 (or between 1497 and 1499). As often with similar works of this date, precedence is difficult to establish with certainty and is sometimes accorded to Back (ISTC) or Zierikzee (Westrem).We cannot trace any examples of this Deventer imprint in auction records. ISTC locates only four copies in institutions worldwide.CONTENTS(1) Johannes de Hesse, Itinerarius. A fictional pilgrimage narrative, usually dated to 1389, describing a journey from Jerusalem through Egypt and Sinai to Ethiopia, India, and the court of Prester John. Hesse distinguishes Ethiopia ("lower India") from India proper ("middle" and "upper India"), asserting that Prester John rules only the latter, and offers a vivid, quasi-ceremonial portrait of the monarch.(2) Tractatus de decem

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