Extremely rare first edition of a list of Dutch data concerning the whaling trade in and around Greenland, compiled by Gerrit van Sante (1728-1779). The book was designed with blank spance to add new data in the years following 1753. The present copy has been updated, probably by the first owner, till the year 1761. Besides the names of the commanders for every Dutch voyage to Greenland and the Davis Strait and the names of the directors for whom they sailed, it also includes an annual record of the number of whales caught, tonnes of blubber and barrels of whale oil, both for each commander individually and for the industry as a whole. "Van Sante understood completely the enormous economic importance of whaling for the Netherlands, and mentions the results of every voyage of every ship" (Catalogue library of G.J. Honig). "Greenland" is broadly interpreted to include the waters around Spitsbergen and Jan Mayen Island, and the Davis Strait fleets (fishing between Greenland and America) are not separately recorded until 1719.
With manuscript owner's inscription, the warrant signature of the author on the back of the title-page, and manuscript additions throughout. Otherwise in very good condition and wholly untrimmed. JBC III, p. 1766; Sabin 76854; STCN (1 copy); WorldCat (2 other copies).