Spilbergen, J. van, and Jacob Le Maire:

$40,000 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

SPECULUM ORIENTALIS OCCIDENTALISQUE INDIÆ NAVIGATIONUM; QUARUM UNA GEORGII A SPILBERGEN CLASSIS CUM POTESTATE PRÆFECTI, ALTERA IACOBI LE MAIRE AUSPICIIS IMPERIOQUE DIRECTA, ANNIS 1614, 15, 16, 17, ... Scarce first Latin edition of one of the bestsellers of illustrated 17th-century travel literature, which reports Le Maire's critical DISCOVERY of TIERRA del FUEGO, an alternate route to the Pacific, and also recounts the Pacific pillaging of the veteran East Indies sailor-turned-pirate, Joris van Spilbergen. In addition, the work includes valuable early information on ports along the Pacific coast of the Americas, and is also of interest for the 17th-century Dutch presence in Brazil. Rich in ethnographic detail, the numerous illustrations in the SPECULUM ORIENTALIS... include images of oversized penguins, llamas, and an Andean condor with a nine-foot wing span. Naval battles, beleaguered Spanish settlements, and newly discovered islands are also depicted in detail, making this a valuable compendium of adventure on the high seas during the Age of Discovery.In 1614 the VOC commissioned Spilbergen to sail to the Moluccas with nearly 700 men. Despite the ostensible commercial nature of his expedition, Spilbergen's six vessels were heavily armed, anticipating encounters with silver-laden Spanish vessels. Spilbergen spent two years calling at various Spanish and Portuguese ports along both coasts of South America, failing to capture any great amounts of silver or silk from Manila, bu

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