Bry, Theodor de | Part VIII of his "Great Voyages," with voyages by Drake, Cavendish, and Raleigh

Bry, Theodor de 

[The Great Voyages, Part VIII, in Latin:] Americae Pars VIII. Continens primo, Descriptionem trium itinerum nobilissimi et fortissimi equitis Francisci Draken. [Frankfurt: Matthew Becker] for the widow and heirs of Theodore de Bry, 1599

Folio (315 x 225 mm). collation: 2A-2R⁴ Aa-Kk⁴Mm⁶a-e⁴ (e4 blank). Letterpress title with engraved vignette map of the world showing Drake's circumnavigation, folding map of Guiana supplied in facsimile, section-title to illustrations with woodcut printer's device, 18 half-plate engraved illustrations, historiated and decorative woodcut initials and head-pieces; title inserted on a stub and folded along gutter to prevent cropping the vignette, lacking the Guiana map, marginal repairs to Aa1-2, a few stray spots, last plate a bit soiled. Early twentieth-century green morocco by W. Pratt, central gilt device to upper cover, spine gilt in compartments, morocco turn-ins, marbled endpapers; spine a trifle faded, very lightly rubbed.

First de Bry edition in Latin, translated from a variety of English sources and published simultaneously with a German-language edition. Mixed issue: AA2 correctly signed, without the text maps on pages 78 (first pagination) and 3 (second pagination); and without numbers engraved in the plates.

De Bry's grand edition of the narratives of six different voyages by Drake, Cavendish, and Raleigh, including Drake's circumnavigation and Caribbean raids, Cavendish's circumnavigation, and Raleigh's celebrated search for El Dorado. Americae Pars VIII is one of the most significant (and scarcest) of de Bry's celebrated compilations, providing an early and comprehensive description of the three major voyages of Sir Francis Drake. Of greatest significance is the relation of the 1577-1580 circumnavigation, based on the account of Nuno da Silva, which had previously been reported only by Hakluyt. Walter Bigges's narrative of Drake's Caribbean raid of 1585-1586 is also reprinted here, while his final voyage against the Spanish at Panama, 1595-1596, is fully described for the first time; the latter account is evidently based in part on Drake's own log. The engravings illustrating Drake's adventures include cityscapes after Baptista Boazio depicting the Englishman's captures of Santiago, Santo Domingo, Cartagena, and St. Augustine—the last being the earliest view of any North American city.

De Bry's account of Sir Thomas Cavendish's circumnavigation of 1586-1588 was taken from a Dutch narrative by Francis Pretty published in Amsterdam by Claeszoon just a few months earlier. The third portion of the volume recounts Sir Walter Raleigh's 1595 expedition to Guiana in search of El Dorado; the analogous excursion by Laurence Kemys the following year is also described, but erroneously credited to Raleigh.

REFERENCES:

Burden, North America 130-131; European Americana 599/21; Church 163/164; Sabin 8784

PROVENANCE:

Henry Stevens, Sons & Stiles (description to front pastedown dated 8 March 1919, obscuring another booklabel)