DE BRY, Theodor.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Great Voyages, Parts I-IX, in Latin. A celebrated set of the first Latin editions of the initial nine parts of de Bry's Great Voyages, a cornerstone of any serious collection of travel books and one of the great collections of voyages published during the Golden Age of European exploration. For collectors of early Americana, it is one of the finest illustrated works depicting indigenous inhabitants of the Americas.The engraver and editor Theodor de Bry (1528-1598) fled the Spanish persecution of Flemish Protestants and lived in Strassburg from 1570 to 1578 and then in Frankfurt am Main, where he established an engraving and publishing business. He twice visited London, where he executed a number of engraving commissions. A meeting with the great English geographer Richard Hakluyt, then preparing his vast collection of voyages (published in 1589 as The Principal Navigations), sparked de Bry's interest, and upon his return home he began his own series.After his death in 1598, the project was continued by his widow and two sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel, who in 1599 issued Parts VII and VIII, and, in 1602, Part IX. Seventeen years passed after the publication of Part IX, and volumes X through XIV were published between 1619 and 1634.The first part comprises the first work devoted to Virginia and the Carolinas and provides the best account of the first attempt at British colonization in the New World. The engravings form the best pictorial record of Native Americans b

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