LAET, Johannes de.
Historie ofte iaerlijck verhael van de verrichtinghen der geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, zedert haer begin tot het eynde van 't jaer sesthien-hondert ses-en-dertich. Begrepen in dertien boecken, ende met verscheyden koperen platen verciert.
Including:
IDEM. Kort verhael uyt de voorgaende boecken ghetrocken vande diensten ende nuttigheden die desen staet heeft genooten by de West-Indische Compagnie; ende schaden die deselve den koningh van Spagnien heeft ghedaen sedert haer begin tot het eynde van den jaere 1636.
Leiden, Bonaventura and Abraham Elzevier, 1644. Folio. With the title printed in red and black, with the Elzevier woodcut device, and 13 double-page engraved maps and views. Contemporary sprinkled calf, gold-tooled spine with a black morocco title-label lettered in gold, red sprinkled edges, gold-tooled board edges. [32], 544, 31, [1 blank], [11], [1 blank] pp.
€ 48,000
First edition of a very important and very rare account of the achievements and proceedings of the Dutch West India Company (WIC) from the year it was established (1623) until the year 1636. In thirteen books a detailed and truthful account of each year is given. 13 beautifully engraved and detailed maps and views show parts of Brazil, Porto Rico, the Rio Grande, Curaçao, as well as some fortifications and other illustrations. At the end, one can find an extract of the 13 books, in which details are given on the costs and profits of the WIC with information on the captured booty, the general state of finances, the equipment on board of the vessels, the goods the ships had on board etc. All in all, this work is one of the most relevant sources for the history of the WIC, more so because the author was closely linked to the company and even served as a director. Furthermore, it is an important work for its descriptions of the voyages of the Dutch to America, in particular Brazil, and the west coast of Africa.
Johannes de Laet (1582-1649) was a Dutch geographer, director of the Dutch West India Company (WIC, since 1621), and polyglot. As WIC director, he was able to bring together information from older publications and contemporary eye-witness accounts to produce the present masterpiece: the most comprehensive account of the New World to that time. It went through many editions, and was translated into Latin in 1633, French in 1640, and even abridged in Spanish around the same time. De Laet went on to produce a whole library of pocket descriptions of various regions of the world, and he, quite successfully, debated in print with Hugo de Groot.
With a small oval stamp (a P and a crown) above a shelf mark ("593") on the recto of the first free fly leaf and the title-page, and an inscription noting a library location ("Cultuurgeschiedenis Lae gesloten kast.") on the recto of the first free fly leaf. The hinges are slightly weakened and the edges and corners of the boards and spine show slight signs of wear. Otherwise a beautiful copy. Borba de Moraes I p. 452; JCB II p. 316; Muller, Americana 408; Sabin 38556; STCN 832661481 (16 copies); Tiele 630; Willems 571.
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