Beschreibung:

Libro XX de la segunda parte de le general historia de las Indias…que trata del estrecho de Magallans.
Valladolid: Fernandez de Cordova, 1557. 4to (268 x 195 mm). 64ff. Roman numerals, double-column. Large woodcut arms of Charles V on the title, woodcut initials and illustrations in text, printed in double columns. Modern cat's paw calf bound in Spanish style, spine gilt in compartments with morocco lettering label to spine, marbled endpapers, edges speckled blue. Condition : wormed throughout to lower right margins increasing into lower text with some loss of letters, occasional stains, with repairs to some leaves. Acquisition : purchased from William Reese Company (1998), $17,325. one of the earliest accounts of magellan's circumnavigation and his voyages to patagonia through the straits that now bear his name. Ferdinand Magellan (1480-1521) commanded the Spanish expedition of 1519-1522, which became the first circumnavigation of the globe (and being the first Europeans to successfully navigate the difficult straits fom the south Atlantic to the Pacific) when a single ship from his fleet, the Victoria , returned to Spain three years after departure. Magellan had died en route, killed by a poisoned arrow (and spears) in the Phillipines in April of 1521. The entire expedition seemed a doomed enterprise. Sailing on rotten ships and with a mutinous, multinational crew, the violent storm tossed seas of the South Atlantic and low rations; these bad circumstances only grew worse when in the midst of the vast distances in the Pacific the officers dined on the ships rats (trading at half a ducat apiece) while the average sailor was forced to boil leather for sustenance. Yet at least one captain was deternined to press on despite even the death of Magellan. The completion of the circumnavigation was actually under the command of Juan Sebastián Elcano, a Basque captain that had mutinied against Magellan in Patagonia, though he was spared by the latter and even subsequently given command of a galleon. It was he that managed to survive a mutiny against his own command (when one of the remaining three ships turned Eastward from the Pacific) to eventually complete the voyage with only 17 survivors from the original 240 European crew. this separately published section taken from the general historia de las indias is very rare. One copy at auction in the last 40 years, and another two appearances in 1966. Palau 89531; Sabin 57991.