Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien door Ioannes de Laet. Tweede druck: In ontallÿcke plaetsen verbetert, vermeerdert, met eenige nieuwe Caerten, beelden van verscheyden dieren ende planten verciert
Leiden: Elzevir, 1630. Second edition, enlarged.
Folio in 6s (12 ¼” x 7 ¾”, 311mm x 196mm). *4(–*1) **6 ***4 A-C6 D4 E-G6 H4 I-O6 P4 Q-S6 T8 U- Bb6 Cc4 Dd-Ee6 Ff4 Gg-Nn6 Oo4 Pp-Rr6 Ss8 Tt-Zz6 Aaa8 Bbb-Ddd6 Eee4 Fff-Hhh6 Iii4 [$4 signed]. 333 leaves, pp. [26] (engraved title, blank, 3pp. dedication, verse, 3pp. preface, 2pp. bibliography, 13pp. contents, list of maps, errata), 1-622, [18] (17pp. index, blank). With 15 engraved plates: an engraved title (integral with the text) and 14 double-page engraved maps.
Bound in contemporary stabbed vellum over pasteboard with yapp edges. On the spine, title gilt to a lime green calf label. All edges of the text-block stained green.
Cover worn and stained with some holes through the hinges and back-strip. End-papers renewed. Lacking the half-title (*1). Damp-stain to the fore edge of I1-Fff6 (pp. 89-608), occasionally moderately heavy. Ink annotations throughout text (underscoring, some marginal notation). Pages evenly tanned. Loss to the fore-edge of Ccc5 (not affecting the text). Short marginal tears to the “Straet van Magallanes.” Worming to the bottom edge of Rr1-Iii4 (pp. 449ff.), not affecting the text.
Johannes de Laet (1581–1649), was born in Antwerp to cloth merchant Hans de Laet. In 1584, upon the invasion of Antwerp by Spanish troops, his family fled to the Northern Netherlands and settled in Amsterdam. At the University of Leiden, he studied philosophy and theology, matriculating in 1597. His worldly interests led him to London in 1603, where he cleverly invested in Dutch land reclamation projection and overseas trade. His success in his field led him to become one of the founding directors of the Dutch West India Company– a position he held from 1620 until death.
De Laet first published his account of the New World as Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien… (Leiden, 1625). This expanded edition is one of the most important seventeenth-century New World histories and texts concerning early knowledge of the Americas. The “Nova Anglia” map, showing the coast and inland areas from Nova Scotia to North Carolina, is the first printed map to mention the name Manhattan, here spelled “Manbattes.” Streeter calls it “one of the most famous contemporary descriptions of the natural history of the New World. The work was highly praised a century later by Charlevoix, attesting to its accuracy [...] Winsor referred to Laet’s book as the standard seventeenth-century work on New Netherland.” The fourteen double-page maps are the work of Hessel Gerritsz, official cartographer of both Dutch India Companies (over Blaeu).
Alden & Landis 630/88; Borba de Moraes I.384; cf. Burden 229-232; Sabin 38555.
Catalogued by Sophie Fyfe
Item #SJF0002
Price: $24,000