Itinerarium, Ofte Schip-vaert naer Dost ofte Portugaels Indien. Inhoudende een beschrijvinghe dier Landen, Zee-kusten, havens, Rivieren, Hoecken ende plaetsen, met de gedenck-weerdighste Historien der selver, Hier zijn by ghevoeght de Conterfeytsels van de Habijten ofte Drachten, so van de Portugesen aldaer residerende, als van de in-ghebooren Indianen
Linschoten, Jan Huygen van. Itinerarium, Ofte Schip-vaert naer Dost ofte Portugaels Indien. Inhoudende een beschrijvinghe dier Landen, Zee-kusten, havens, Rivieren, Hoecken ende plaetsen, met de gedenck-weerdighste Historien der selver, Hier zijn by ghevoeght de Conterfeytsels van de Habijten ofte Drachten, so van de Portugesen aldaer residerende, als van de in-ghebooren Indianen: Ende van hare Tempelen, Afgoden, Hupsinghen, manieren, Godesdienst, Politie, Hups-houdinghen ende koop-handel, hoe ende waer die gedreven wort: Als oock van de Boomen, Vruchten, kruyden, Specerijen, ende dierghelijcke Materialen van die Landen. Alles beschreven door Ian Huyghen van Linschoten. Van nicus ghecorrigeert ende verbetert. Three volumes in one. Amsterdam: Everhardt Cloppenburch, 1644.
Folio in 6s (11 ¾” x 7 13/16”, 297mm x 198mm): π4 A–M6 N8,2A4 Bb–Ll6 Mm8, a8 b–f6 g–h4 [$3 signed; +N4, a4, a5, c4, e4; –2A1, Kk2, a1; e2 and e3 signed “c2” and “c3”]. 202 leaves, pp. [8] (half-title, blank, title, privilege, 2pp. foreword, verses, engraved portrait of Linschoten) 1–160, [8] (title, 7pp. verses) 13–147, [93] (blank, title, 81pp. account of travels in New Guinea, Congo, and Angola, 2pp. blank, 8pp. table of contents). With 3 engraved title-pages, 1 engraved portrait of the author, and 31 double-page engravings, of which 1 is a map.
Bound in vellum. On the spine, title, author, and date inked in manuscript.
Vellum soiled and pitted. Fore-corners bumped. Leaves washed, facsimile infill and general tanning throughout. Plates mounted on stubs. Loss to G5. Bookplate of Ernest Mason Satow to the front pastedown. Lacking 5 folding plates and 6 folding maps.
Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563–1611) was born in the city of Haarlem and spent his formative years in Enkhuizen, a prominent maritime hub of the Dutch Republic. The town’s vibrant port activity familiarized him with the rhythms of trade and seafaring life, and his father’s job as an innkeeper played a significant role in shaping this environment. The inn served as a gathering place for sailors, merchants, and travelers returning from distant voyages, likely imbuing the young Linschoten with tales of exploration and adventure. At twenty years old, it was time for an adventure of his own. Linschoten traveled to Lisbon, where he secured a position as secretary to João Vicente da Fonseca, the Archbishop of Goa. This appointment required him to travel to Portuguese-occupied India, where he spent nearly a decade embedded within the colonial administration. With new friends in high places, Linschoten had access to fiercely guarded Portuguese maritime knowledge, including trade routes, harbor details, and local customs across Africa, India, and Southeast Asia. This information had allowed Portuguese merchants to possess a virtual monopoly on European trade with India and Southeast Asia, selling exotic goods to Northern Europeans at exorbitant prices. Linschoten diligently recorded this information and safeguarded it for eight years. Following Fonseca’s death in 1587, Linschoten travelled through several Portuguese and Spanish outposts before eventually joining Willem Barentsz on two (unsuccessful) voyages in search of the Northeast Passage. After returning to the Netherlands, he compiled the Portuguese intel with his personal recollections and observations of his travels, and published Itinerarium, Ofte Schip-vaert naer Oost ofte Portugaels Indien, a groundbreaking body of work that provided northern European powers with strategic access to previously restricted regions. Linschoten’s work became instrumental in enabling Dutch and English expeditions to Asia, directly contributing to the rise of the Dutch East India Company (Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie or VOC) and the British East India Company.
Linschoten's Itinerarium is divided into three parts (the second part, the Reys-gheschrift (Voyage-writing), appeared first; the first and third parts appeared in 1596). The first describes the navigation routes and geography of the East Indies, including India, Ceylon, Malacca, and Japan; the second details the African coastline and kingdoms along the Portuguese route, such as Angola and Mozambique; and the third reproduces the formerly secret Portuguese charts and sailing directions (lacking in this example, see our first edition example for a complete set). Of Itinerarium’s engravings, Church writes that “fine copies of this work with all the maps and plates are extremely rare, for the reason that, as stated by Muller, the book was so popular for a century after its publication, that it was given to each ship sailing from Holland to India.” One can imagine this was the case for the present example, with maps likely removed for ease of reference. Itinerarium’s value lay not only in its practical guidance for sailors and merchants but also in its strategic implications — by exposing Portuguese maritime secrets, Itinerarium empowered Protestant maritime empires to challenge Catholic Iberian control over the East. Spain and Portugal had justified their dominion through papal decrees such as the Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) and the Treaty of Zaragoza (1529), which divided the non-European world between them under the blessing of the Pope, and solidified the belief that Catholic powers alone held legitimate claims to Asian territories and trade. By treating the East as a geographical and commercial space open to all — particularly Protestant nations — Linschoten implicitly rejected the notion that Catholic empires held exclusionary divine rights. Widely translated and disseminated, the Itinerarium stands as one of the most influential travel books of the XVI c. and a key document of early globalization.
The present example is from the personal library of Sir Ernest Mason Satow (1843–1929). A distinguished British diplomat, scholar, and one of the most influential Japanologists of the 19th century, Satow is the father of the field of International Relations as we know it. At 19 years old, Satow entered the British diplomatic service and was posted to Japan as a student interpreter during the transition from Tokugawa rule to the Meiji era. Over the course of his career, Satow oversaw the end of extraterritoriality under the Anglo‑Japanese Treaty of Commerce and Navigation, and later represented Britain at the Second Hague Peace Conference in 1907.
Aldin / Landis 644/97-99; Sabin 41363.
Cataloged by G.R. Murdock
Item #GRM0027
Price: $28,000