HORNIUS (HORN), Georgius.
De originibus Americanis. Libri quatuor.
The Hague, Adriaan Vlacq (colophon: printed by Phillipe de Croy, Leiden), 1652.
With: (2) BLESDIJK, Nicolaas van. Historia, vitae, doctrinae, ac rerum gestarum Davidis Georgii haeresiarchae. Conscripta ab ipsius genero Nicolao Blesdikio. Nunc primum prodit in lucem ex musaeo Iacobi Revii.
Deventer, Nathanael Cost, 1642. 2 works in 1 volume. 8vo. Contemporary vellum. [9], [11], 282; [8], 189 pp.
€ 6,500
The first edition of a learned essay on the origins of the American Indians. It was a reply to Grotius who had argued in 1642 that the American Indians were descendants of Norsemen, Ethiopians and Chinese, basing his theory mainly on linguistic arguments. Hornius criticized Grotius's philological approach and placed the origins of the American peoples in Scythia, Phoenicia, Carthage and China.
The work is bound with Blesdijk's famous biography of the Anabaptist leader David Joris, edited by Jacobus Revius. It remains the most important source for the life and teaching of David Joris.
Fine copies. With minor surface defects in the vellum, but binding still very good. Ad 1: Alden & Landis 652/111; Borba de Moraes, p. 413; Sabin 33014; ad 2: V.d. Linde, David Joris 242; STCN (7 copies).
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