Rare, richly illustrated edition of an important account of five trading voyages to Cape Verde, Angola, Congo, Guinea, and the East Indies. It was one of the first Europeans works to describe the communities in West and Central Africa, and comment extensively on the commercial strategies of Dutch merchants along the African west coast. It also includes a beautiful portrait of the author, engraved after the painted portrait by Frans Hals. The present edition is exceptionally rare, as we have only been able to trace 9 copies in institutions, and none in sales records of the past hundred years.
The work is based on the journals of Pieter van den Broecke (1585-1640), a cloth merchant working for the Dutch East India Company (VOC). He was promoted to chief tradesman and admiral due to his successes in West Africa and the Middle East. The present work is an account of his earliest voyages to West Africa, in 1605, 1607, 1609, and 1611, and his longer voyage to, and stay in, the East Indies, from 1613 to 1630. His travelled to Angola three times, also visiting Guinea, the Kingdom of Congo, and the former Kingdom of Loango (part of present day Congo). On his final trading journey to Angola, in 1611, he returned with 65.000 pounds of ivory.
Van den Broecke's journals, which are still kept in the Nationaal Archief in the Hague, were widely read in the 17th century. His travel accounts were first published in 1634 as Korte historiael ende journaelsche aenteyckeninghe, by two different publishers, and as Wonderlijcke historische ende journaelsche aenteyckeningh in 1648 by Joost Hartgers. Hartgers also included it in his compilation of various travel accounts, Oost-Indische voyagien (1648). In the early 1660's, Gilles Joosten Saeghman (1619-1704) republished the classic travel accounts for a new generation. Like Hartgers, he published each of them separately and as part of a compilation, titled Verscheyde Oost-Indische voyagien (1663-1670). The present copy is the rare separate edition.
With the bookplate of Willem van Dam mounted on the front pastedown, and a paper shelf mark label on the recto of the first free flyleaf. The boards are slightly rubbed. The work is somewhat browned throughout. Otherwise in good condition. Muller, De Vries, Scheepers 842; Sabin 74837; STCN 089373464 (7 copies); USTC 1800389 (4 copies); WorldCat 1154622853, 937148132, 248537713 (9 copies).