Herrera, Antonio de, and Jacques Le Maire:

$20,000 · Offered by William Reese Company

DESCRIPTION DES INDES OCCIDENTALES, QU'ON APPELLE AUJOURDHUY LE NOUUEAU MONDE...AVEC LA NAVIGATION DU VAILLANT CAPTAINE DE MER JAQUES LE MAIRE. First edition in French; one of the classic descriptions of the Spanish conquests in the New World, and a work of great rarity and importance. The first publication of Jacques Le Maire's journal of one of the greatest early Pacific voyages and circumnavigations, that of Le Maire and Schouten in 1615 and 1616. Le Maire's journal, which occupies pages 107-174 of this book, describes the voyage of trade and discovery, launched by one of the most aggressive Netherlands traders in this era of Dutch expansion. The expedition sailed around Cape Horn, explored the Pacific coast of South America, and pursued the search for Terra Australis."Partly inspired by Quiros and motivated by Dutch trading zeal, this was the essential precursor to Tasman's voyage; indeed Tasman made great use of Le Maire's mapping of the ocean. The Le Maire voyage, the last of the seventeenth century expeditions to search for the unknown continent from the east, was responsible for extensive discoveries in the Pacific, shown in excellent detail on the various maps published here" - Hordern House. These include Le Maire's map of his Pacific route and of New Guinea, definitely establishing it to be an island, entirely altering European knowledge of the archipelago, which had been unchanged since 1545. There are also five engraved views, showing the expedition in Patagonia,

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