Primo volume, & Terza editione delle navigationi et viaggi raccolto gia da M. Gio. Battista. Ramusio, & con molti & vaghi discorsi, da lui in molti luoghi dichiarato & illustrato. . . WITH Delle navigationi et viaggi raccolte da M. Gio. Battista Ramusio, Et illustrate con molti vaghi Discorsi da lui dichiarati: volume secondo. . . AND Terzo volume delle navigationi et viaggi. . .
THE KNIGHTS OF MALTA–FRANK S. STREETER SET
Three volumes. Venice: Giunti, 1563–1606–1556. Third edition of vol. I, fourth edition of vol. II, first edition of vol. III.
Quarto in 8s and 4s (11 13/16” x 8 ¼”, 301mm x 211mm).
Vol. I: πa4 πb-d8 πe10 a-v8 x10 y-bbb8 ccc10 (ccc10 blank) [$4 signed; +e5, x5, ccc5; p4 as “piiiij”, x3 as “xij”, x4 as “xiij”, x5 as “xiiij”]. 434 leaves, foll. [4] (title, blank, 2pp. dedication, 2pp. to the reader, 2pp. contents) π1 π2-34, 1-162 2162 163-394 [1] (2pp. blank). [=xxxviii, 396] With 3 double-page woodcut maps.[1]
Vol. II: 1-26 34 46 54 A-II8 2A-X4 Y6 [$4 signed (8s) and $2 signed (4s); –11; 2F2 as “E ij”]. 372 leaves, foll. π1 (title, contents) π2-5 [1] π9-18 [10] (20pp. index), 1-256, 21-90. [=xxvi, 256, 90]
Vol. III: 1-66 74 a-k8 L-Q8 r-yy8 zz10 aaa-eee8 fff4 ggg-hhh8 iii6 kkk6(–kkk6 blank) [$4 signed; –qq3; +zz5; zz5 signed as “yy iiii”, fff1 as “f”]. 479 leaves, foll. π1 (title, blank) π2-6 2π1-34, 1-364 2356-357 367-380 2379 382-410 413-423 426 429 432 435-445 448-453. [=lx, 439] With 3 full-page woodcuts (2 maps, 1 illustration) integral with the text and 7 double-page maps hors-texte (but included in the foliation, with the folio number of the first leaf printed verso, viz. 411-412, 424-425, 427-428, 430-431, 433-434, 446-447 and 454-455).
With 10 double-page woodcut maps in toto as well as many integral woodcuts, of which 3 are full-page.
Bound in contemporary (i.e., XVIIc) vellum. On the spines, five raised bands. Title and author ink manuscript to the second panel, number ink manuscript to the third. All edges of the text-blocks sprinkled red. Presented in morocco-backed slip-cases with chemises.
Worming to the spines, particularly to the headpiece of vol. II (partly perished) and to the bottom panel of vol. III. Front board of all three volumes starting at the foot; vol. II at the head as well. Sporadic tanning and foxing, generally confined to a quire or a couple of leaves (e.g., I:a1, II:O2–3 and V4–5, III:b). The odd bit of soiling or ink-staining. Worming to: I:a1–a3 (and the front paste-down and free end-paper), ccc9–10 (and the rear free end-paper); II:Y5–rear paste-down. Repaired tear to II:B8. Vol. III quires surrounding the double-page maps (hhh–kkk) detaching, with hhh4–5 detached. Graphite side-lining to I:93–94r, ink manicule to III:27r and the quire signature of III:zz5 corrected in ink manuscript. Armorial ink-stamp (with a paper-backing) to the title-leaf of each volume; vol. II with an embossed paper stamp above with a Maltese cross behind a shield at center, with the legend “?LA ?CANCELLERIA LUOGOTENENZA DI S. GIOVANNI” running round.
Giovanni Battista Ramusio (1485–1557) was a humanist who spent much of his life in service to the Venetian state. He was a member of the Accademia Aldina, and Aldus Manutius writes highly of his scholarship. He rose through the ranks of the Venetian republic, both as secretary to Doge Alvise Mocenigo and as secretary of the Senate and one of the secretaries of the Consiglio dei Dieci. While representing Venice at the court of Louis XII, he gained access to French accounts of the New World, which appealed to Venice as her land access to Asian trade was being threatened by the Ottomans. Ramusio, armed with these voyages, edited them into a single collection so that future explorers could access easily what had already gone out of print or had never been widely circulated.
The Navigationi et viaggi first appeared in 1550, its first volume dealing with Africa — including Leo Africanus’ Descrittione dell’ Africa, whose original manuscript was rediscovered in the 1930’s — India and Southeast Asia generally; the recounting, in effect, of the Portuguese contribution from the rounding of Africa in 1498 through their exploration of the Indian Ocean. The third volume — with maps by none other than Giacomo Gastaldi — came out next (1556, as here), dealing with the New World or, as on the final map, the “parte del mondo ritrovata” or “re-discovered part of the world.” This volume benefitted tremendously from Ramusio’s connection to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V by way of the explorer Sebastian Cabot. It includes seven double-page maps that sparked European interest in the new world, viz. “Il Cvscho citta principale della provincia del Perv,” “La Nvova Francia,” “Brasil,” “Parte de l<’>Africa,” “Svmatra” “La Terra de Hochelaga nella Nova Francia,” and “Vniversale della parte del mondo nvovamente ritrovata.”
A fire in 1557 stalled the second volume, burning the original manuscript and, it is thought, several of the wood-blocks. It eventually appeared in 1559; the present set (as often) contains the fourth edition of vol. II, presumably the latest available at the time of purchase. The publication history of the set is nuanced, but it is remarkable that the work was so much in demand that it went through a great many editions into the early XVIIc. By gathering voyages from Marco Polo through to the most up-to-date records of contemporary explorers, Ramusio created an indispensable tool for nations and companies looking to the limits of what was known for expansion and profit. The plans and maps, including the first detailed plan of Tenochtitlán (Mexico City) and the supremely elegant circular map of the Americas that closes the final volume, are joined by woodcuts of plants, animals and other curiosities to be found, but this is foremost a work of text, far more readable in vernacular Italian than in academic Latin.
The stamps to the title-pages have long been ignored by cataloguers of the set, but they relate to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (S.M.O.M, better known as the Knights of Malta), founded in the late XIc in the course of the Crusades; the “Maltese cross” (i.e., a Greek cross of four even branches, each split into two points) is at the center of the stamp, behind a vacant shield. The motto surrounding (the first two words unclear, but probably referring to the chancellery) describes the period in the XIXc (1805–1879) during which several popes refused to recognize a Grand Master and the Order was governed by a Luogotenente (lieutenant).
From the collection of Frank Sherwin Streeter (1918–2006), purchased at his sale (“Important navigation, Pacific voyages, cartography, science”) at Christie’s New York 16–17 April 2007, lot 431. Streeter was the son of the legendary Americana collector Thomas Streeter, whose sale catalogue has become a reference work in its own right. Some of his collection he inherited from his father (those he did not he would often buy back), but other volumes he added over many decades until his death.
Adams R 136 (vol. I); Alden/Landis 563/22, 606/87, 556/38; Borba de Moraes II:698 (vol. II); Church 99 (vol. III); EDIT16 CNCE 27274 (vol. I) & CNCE 27226 (vol. III); Sabin 67732, 67739, 67740.
[1] Church (still the most thorough bibliography) claims of the various editions of vol. I: “those of 1563, 1606, and 1613 have three copper-plate maps reëngraved to take the place of the woodcut blocks, probably lost in the fire which destroyed the printing-office of the Giunti in 1557” (I:230). The present volume, however, has the woodcut maps, which were remaining from the 1550 or 1554 editions. Perhaps this might be called a first state of the third edition.
Item #JLR0860
Price: $190,000