Beschreibung:

Le Grant Voyage de Hierusalem.
Paris: Nicolas Hygman for François Regnault, 1522. 2 parts in 1 volume. 4to. 209ff., [iv], 209. 35 woodcuts in text and 2 large folding woodcut plates in very fine facsimile by Hutville(?), Gothic letter. 18th century French red morocoo, flat spine richly gilt, with the Roxburghe arms on the covers, gilt edges. Condition : very faint intermittent staining to a few leaves, small wormhole to title and opening leaf; extremities lightly rubbed, corners bumped. Provenance : inscription partly effaced at colophon dated 1598; "Bib de la Valliere" (ink note verso front endpaper); Duke of Roxburghe (applied arms to binding), sale 1812; Duke of Devonshire (Chatsworth Library bookplate) Acquistion : purchased from Maggs Bros. Ltd., (2000), $8420 third french edition. a fine copy from the libraries of both the dukes of roxburghe and devonshire of the earliest modern account of the holy land. Bernhard Von Breydenbach's travels to Palestine and Mount Sinai in 1483-84 are faithfully set out in this pilgrimage account in which he shares a significant gift for seeing and describing the characteristics of the places he visited, all of which which he viewed with great curiosity and intelligence. He comments on the local customs, the many strange animals he encountered and the unknown alphabets of the various inhabitants. As Hoefer puts it "Breydenbach mérite encore d'être lu." The often mutilated or missing folding plates, here careful facsimiles, are of considerable interest. The first of Jerusalem, in two distinct sections, was executed for Regnault's editions from an entirely new design. The second similarly in two parts, depicts first the knights and princes of Christendom receiving the Papal blessing before departing on the crusade and second the French army before Jerusalem with the infantry composed of 'adventurers' and Swiss (probably mercenaries) with the Turks in the background. Here both are careful facsimiles. Other woodcuts in the text are mainly of battles and sieges but also represent the Pope and the Kings of France, Persia and Poland, Badouin and the Duc de Lorrain, the murder of the King of Cyprus, various city views and the Turks including the Sultan and the Holy Sepulchre. Since the original edition published in Latin in 1486, Peregrinatio in Terram Sanctam, was reprinted to many versions. The French translation adapts the original edition to form the first part of the volume. While the second part groups together other various anonymous texts. A rare work work with only 3 copies recorded in ABPC in the last 30 years European Americana 522/4, BM STC Fr. has Jean de Hersins' earlier translation only, Brunet I 1252-3, Fairfax Murray 625, Renouard III, 120, Not in Adams, Mortimer, Harvard C16 Fr, or Göllner, Blackmer had a later abridgment only, SNL195.