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A bestseller of illustrated 17th-century travel literature, probably printed by Izaak Elzevier

SPILBERGEN, Joris van and Jacob Le MAIRE.
Miroir Oost & West-Indical, auquel sont descriptes les deux dernieres navigations, faictes es années 1614. 1615. 1616. 1617. & 1618.
Amsterdam, Johannes Janssonius [printed by Izaak Elzevier?], 1621. Oblong 4to (17.5 x 23 cm). With 24 (of 25) engraved plates, including 5 double-page and 10 larger folding. Modern vellum. [4], 172 pp.
€ 16,500
First and only edition of the French translation of one of the bestsellers of illustrated 17th-century travel literature, describing one of the most famous early voyages around the world by Joris van Spilbergen (1568-1620), a veteran Dutch East Indies naval officer-turned-pirate, undertaken from 1614 to 1618. A short survey of another of the most important early voyages around the world, by Schouten and Le Maire in the years 1615 to 1617, is added at the end (pp. 117-172) with drop-title "Navigationes Australes". It reports Le Maire's proof that Tierra del Fuego is an island and his discovery of what is still called the Strait of Le Maire, an alternative route to the Pacific. Rich in ethnographic detail, the numerous illustrations in the Miroir include 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 the work a valuable compendium of adventure on the high seas during the Age of Discovery.
With several owner's inscriptions. With a few manuscript annotations in the margin. Lacking the world map. Washed with a brush, leaving light brown steaks on most leaves, and further with an occasional leaf foxed or smudged and an occasional minor tear. Otherwise a good copy of an extraordinary journal. Borba de Moraes, p. 826 ("This French edition is much sought after"); Landwehr & V.d. Krogt, VOC 362; Sabin 89451; Tiele, Bibl. 1030.
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