L’Histoire du Nouveau Monde ou Description des Indes Occidentales, Contenant dix-huict Liures, Par le Sieur Iean de Laet, d’Anuers; Enrichi de nouuelles Tables Geographiques & Figures des Animaux, Plantes & Fruicts
Leiden: Bonaventure and Abraham Elzevir, 1640. First edition in French.
Folio in 4s (14” x 9”, 355mm x 228mm): *4(–*2.3) **-****4 A-Gggg4 Hhhh4(–Hhhh2.3) Iiii-Kkkk4 Llll6 [$3 signed]. 334 leaves, pp. [28] (title, blank, verse, list of maps, 8pp. preface, 15pp. contents, list of in-text illustrations), 1-610 615-632, [12] (12pp. index). With 14 double-page engraved maps.
Bound in contemporary vellum over paste-board with yapp edges. On the spine, title, author, imprint and the initials “R.W.S.” ink manuscript. All edges of the text-block stained black.
Both hinges starting, but not more than 12mm. Some soiling and rubbing to the vellum, with signs of damp-staining to both boards but not affecting the text-block. 15mm loss to the rear yapp edge. Fore-edges of the first free end-paper and the first two leaves of the text worn. Mildly evenly tanned, with some foxing and scattered ink-burn. Gutter tear to “Maiores minores qve insvlae Hispaniola, Cvba Lucaiae et Caribes.” Worm-hole to the gutter of **1–L1 (first page of the preface–82), not affecting the text. Notation to front paste-down in graphite: “308,000/1969.22/4 […] remalé (?) Staudt _ (u. $s. 880)” above the bookplate of Staudt, completed in graphite “37/3.” Old ink inscription to the recto of the first rear end-paper “a La haÿe Le 6.e Nouembre/ 1696 voor, 22242/”.
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 his death.
De Laet first published his account of the New World as Nieuwe Wereldt ofte Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien… (Leiden, 1625). This French edition, probably translated by de Laet himself — each edition, from the 1633 Latin to this French, became more complete and accurate, making the French edition the most desirable (see Sabin) — 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.”
The Streeter catalogue notes that “it is also the earliest to use the Dutch names of Noordt Rivier and Zuyd Rivier, for the Hudson and Delaware Rivers respectively, as well as the Indian Massachusets, for the new English colony ... [the ‘Nova Francia’ map] is one of the foundation maps of Canada” (Streeter). It is “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” (ibid.). The fourteen double-page maps are the work of Hessel Gerritsz, a Dutch engraver who was appointed official cartographer of both Dutch India Companies (over Blaeu).
The early acquisition (6 November 1696) note at the end of the volume shows the volume in trade; “22242” is likely a code for cost paid — though 22,242 guilders seems rather steep. The Staudt bookplate is signed at the lower edge “G. Otto 1924,” giving a terminus post quem for its insertion. G. Otto was an active bookplate-printer from the late XIXc. The bookplate has appeared on other volumes of Americana (e.g., Burmeister’s Reise nach Brasilien in the Mindlin library at the University of São Paolo). This is, presumably, Richard Wilhelm Staudt (cf. the R.W.S. at the tail of the spine; 1888–1955) the notorious Argentine-German arms-dealer who furnished the Nazis with weapons. The graphite note at the upper edge of the front paste-down suggests the purchase of the volume from Staudt (their sale?) for the equivalent of $880 in 1969.
Alden & Landis 640/111; cf. Burden 229-232; Cumming, Southeast 34; Phillips 1149; Sabin 38558; Streeter sale 37; Willems 382.
Item #SJF0003
Price: $20,000