Beschreibung:

QUIRÓS, Pedro Fernandez de (ca 1565-1615). Terra Australis incognita, or a new Southerne Discoverie, containing a fifth part of the World. London: Printed for John Hodgetts, 1617.
QUIRÓS, Pedro Fernandez de (ca 1565-1615). Terra Australis incognita, or a new Southerne Discoverie, containing a fifth part of the World. London: Printed for John Hodgetts, 1617. Small 4 o (167 x 132 mm). 27 pages. (Lacking A1 blank, one page numeral shaved.) Red morocco gilt, edges gilt, by W. Pratt for H. Stevens. Provenance : British Museum (duplicate stamp dated 1787 on verso of title); Henry Huth (morocco bookplate; his sale Sotheby's 1 July 1918, lot 6107); James Edge Partington (bookplate); Boies Penrose (bookplate; his sale part I, Sotheby's London, 7 June 1971, lot 82). EXCEEDINGLY RARE: QUIRÓS'S EIGHTH MEMORIAL PETITIONING KING PHILIP II OF SPAIN CONCERNING HIS DISCOVERY OF AUSTRALIA DEL ESPIRITO SANTO (NEW HEBRIDES): "This unknowne Countrey is the fifth part of the Terrestriall Globe, and extendeth itselfe to such length, that in probabilitie it is twice greater in Kingdoms and Seignories, then all that which at this day doth acknowledge subjection and obedience unto your Maiestie" (quoted from p.3) FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, issue without "Trans. by W.B." on title. This English edition was probably translated from the unauthorized German edition printed in Augsburg in 1611 and was further translated into Italian, Dutch, Latin and French. Of the some 65 private documents addressed by Quirós to King Philip II of Spain, only this eighth achieved circulation and translation. Its publication established Quirós's reputation as the father of exploration for the southern continent, which he thought he had indeed found. "Queirós was born in Evora, Portugal. In 1580 he became a subject of King Philip II, and he chose the life of a seaman. Queirós emigrated to Peru where, in 1595, he was appointed chief pilot to Alvaro Mendaña de Neira, who set out from Callao with a large expedition to colonize the Solomon Islands, which Mendaña had discovered nearly thirty years earlier in 1567... Queirós navigated the ships on to Manila, discovering Ponape, in the Caroline Islands, on the way. On this voyage, he conceived the idea of discovering and colonizing the great southern continent of Terra Australis. Queirós was a humanitarian and an egalitarian, and he wished to found a society in which the Hispanics and the natives would live in harmony. In 1602 he voyaged to Spain where he deluged the royal ministers with petitions and memorials... Queirós then discovered in May 1606, the largest of the New Hebrides Islands which he named 'La Australia del Espiritu Santo' and on which he proposed to found the city of New Jerusalem" (Hill). Quirós's voyage continued towards Antarctic waters where they discovered Torres Strait by sailing between New Guinea and Australia. "The voyages of Queirós are an historical watershed. They were the last voyages of a Spanish conquistador to find and conquer new lands for his King and Church. However, he is given credit for being the first in the vanguard of Antarctic exploration" (ibid). Alden & Landis 617/123; Hill p.547; JCB (3) II:117-18; Medina 558n; Palau 89609; Sabin 67357; STC 10822.