Beschreibung:

Bry, Theodor de, Johann Theodor de, and Johann Israel de[The Great and Small Voyages]. Frankfurt and Oppenheim: Theodor de Bry and his heirs, 1590-1624 The Perrette set of the Latin edition of the most famous and influential of all collections of voyages Theodor de Bry (1528-1598) first began the publication of this astounding collection of voyages following a visit to England in 1587. There he met the geographer Richard Hakluyt, who was then preparing his own depiction of voyages in the New World, and de Bry grew interested in the work. Hakluyt convinced him to publish his own collection of voyages; in support of this project, he helped de Bry to find representations of the Americas and gave him, once it was published, a copy of Hariot’s Virginia—which would become the first part of the Great Voyages, published in 1590. He would go on to publish the next five parts from 1591 until his death in 1598. Following his death, his widow and sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel de Bry continued his monumental work, issuing Parts VII and VIII in 1599 and Part IX in 1602. The latter was presumably intended to be the final part of the Great Voyages—given its title, Nona & postrema Pars—but Johann Theodor resumed the series seventeen years later, issuing Parts X and XI in 1619 and 1620, respectively, and de Bry’s heirs would go on to complete the series. The works were astoundingly popular and influential, and the iconography disseminated through de Bry's compilation of travel narratives dominated the European view of the New World and the East Indies for more than a century after their publication. The exceptional ethnographic engravings in the first two parts are of special importance for the study of Native American life at the time of the first encroachment of Europeans. Throughout the set, however, many engravings include images of flora, fauna, and topography that provide interesting details about the way America looked in the sixteenth century and the way Europeans saw her. The present set, assembled close to the publication date and in a striking contemporary binding, lacks only the final part of the Great Voyages, published in 1634, and the final two parts of the Small Voyages, published in 1619 and 1628. As most of the sets that appear at auction are typically in later bindings and compiled out of various copies, this set is both truly remarkable and rare. Comprising: The Great Voyages: 2 volumes, folio (342 x 235 mm). In Latin, Parts I-XII (of 13); dampstaining to head of first volume, small uniform hole at foot affecting Parts III-VI, browning and mild staining throughout not affecting maps. In contemporary German uniform blind-stamped pigskin over wooden boards, covers with central panel of the Virgin and Child and elaborate blind-stamped floral borders, spines with raised bands in 7 compartments, first compartments lettered in ink, brass clasps; bindings rubbed, clasps of the first volume renewed, modern endpapers. Part I. [Hariot, Thomas]. Admiranda Narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae, 1590. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1590. First edition, first issue. Engraved title surround, dedicatory coat of arms, folding map of Virginia, Adam and Eve plate, 27 engraved plates, 2 of which folding, with blank leaf after plate 23; title-page and a2-4 from another copy, being a second issue, upper corner of plate 18 cleanly restored, repaired tear along fold of map of Virginia, pencil to foot of d1. Church 140. Part II. [Le Moyne, Jacques, et al.]. Brevis narratio eorum quae in Florida Americae provincia Gallis acciderunt..auctore Jacobo le Moyne. Frankfurt: Johann Wechel, 1591 [1609]. Second edition. Engraved title surround, engraved title to plates, dedicatory coat of arms, folding map of Florida, engraved illustration to the Reader leaf, 42 engraved plates after Le Moyne; H5-I1 with chips at upper corners, one with partial restoration. Church 146. Part III. [Staden, Hans, and Jean Lery]. Americae tertia par