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MEURS, J.van - De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America en 't Zuid-Land.

MEURS, J.van - De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America en 't Zuid-Land.
MEURS, J.van - De Nieuwe en Onbekende Weereld: of Beschryving van America en 't Zuid-Land.
Published: Amsterdam, Jacob Meurs, 1671
Size: 330 x 220mm.
Color: Uncoloured.
Condition: Folio. Engraved allegorical title (short tear repaired), letterpress title in black and red with vignette. Folding engraved general map of America (short tears along fold), 47 double-page engraved plates (2 folding, including 15 maps, the remaining 32 mostly comprising town views), 7 portraits and 69 text engravings.

Description

FIRST EDITION. "This is a classic book on America and is much sought after by collectors of Americana as it contains, on p. 124, one of the first views of New York Novum Amsterodamum (Borba de Moraes).
The text engraving on p. 213 shows the crowning of Sir Francis Drake by the California Native Americans. First edition of the greatest illustrated book on America of the seventeenth century. “The finely executed engravings of this work are especially brilliant in this, the original edition” -- Church, 613. Included are a large folding map of the western hemisphere as well as maps of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, Virginia, the Carolinas and Florida, Venezuela, and Guiana.

Of great significance is the engraving at the top of page 124, which is one of the first fine views of New York, called Novum Asterodamun. This engraving depicts the settlement at about 1650, and according to Stokes, was probably drawn by Augustine Herrman. Among the double-page views of forts and cities are Mexico City, Pagus Hispanorum in Florida, Havana, etc. The seven portraits include Columbus, Magellan and Pizzarro, while the 70 textual plates represent the games, festivals, battles, religious rites, cannibalism, habitations, manners and customs of the Indians.
The text is taken from many sources and cited on a leaf at the end (that of New York, for example, is from Vander Donck). There is a section on California (204-215) and an extended description of Brazil.

Provenance : From the celebrated Sobolesky Collection, with bookplate.  The sale of the library formed by Sobolewski, an intimate friend of Pushkin, himself a poet and a historian of Russian printing, started with 594 lots of bibliography and continued with literature, history, travel, and geography, including many works on Russia.
20,000€
  • Reference N°: 33940
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