Second and nearly definitive edition of the 1621 charter granted to the Dutch West India Company (WIC) by the Dutch States General, here for the first time with three additions from later proclamations by the States General. The 1621 charter established the WIC as a joint stock company on 3 June 1621, less than two months after the expiration of the Twelve Years Truce with Spain during the Eighty Years War for Dutch independence from Spain. The truce had forbidden Dutch incursions in the Spanish and Portuguese colonial trade, including that in the Americas, and the WIC was established explicitly to trade in their American territories and even to conquer their territories when possible and establish Dutch colonies. In fact, the WICs first major expedition was intended to capture the Portuguese colonies in Bahia (the heart of the sugar plantations) and Sãu Paulo (the centre of the American trade in African slaves) in what is now Brazil, and the fleet set off in December 1623 and 1624, less than six months after the present pamphlet appeared (they briefly captured Bahia).
Book and binding in very good condition, with only a couple small marginal stains and with generous margins, the binding therefore proving a nice showing of the unusual marbled paper. Second edition (with important additions) of the 1621 charter of the Dutch West India Company, published only months before the Companys short-lived conquest of Bahia in Brazil. Alden & Landis 623/88 (6 copies); Asher 55; Borba de Moraes p. 624; JCB II, p. 179; Knuttel 3424; Sabin 56666; STCN 852473486 (9 copies including both Knuttel 3424 and 3425); Tiele/Muller 1983; Wulp 1885; cf. Petit 1405 (French ed.); Rodrigues 1794 (as Knuttel 3425 but erroneously described as an 8vo); Van Sommeren 597 (1637 ed.); Zijlstra 1003 (1642 ed.); not in Bosch; Broekema; Eberstadt; Rogge; Streeter.