Important Early Collection of New World Travels
With a Lengthy Introduction by Sebastian Münster
A nice example of the Paris printing of Huttich's geography, an important very early collection of New World material that includes accounts of Columbus's voyages, and other voyages initiated by Spain and Portugal. This edition contains the same text contents as the Basel edition of the same year.
Often attributed to Grynaeus, but is more properly credited to Johann Huttich, who compiled most of the work. The work stems from the German-speaking, Protestant intellectual milieu that produced other important early geographical publications. Indeed, the volume opens with Sebastian Münster's 12-page description of the world map that was intended to accompany the book (but is lacking here, as usual), with directions on its use.
Published in Paris at the expense of Jean Petit and Galliot du Pré... contains the same material as the Basel edition. The only difference between the two lies in the map, which in the Paris one was designed by Oroncius Finneus - Borba de Moraes.
Johann Huttich (1490-1544) was able to access accounts of early Spanish and Portuguese voyagers to America while in Madrid as part of the embassy associated with Charles V's election as Holy Roman Emperor. Included herein are the three voyages of Columbus, as well as those of Vespucci, Pedro Alonso Niño, Vicente Yánez Pinzón, Pedro Alvares Cabral, and Alvise Cadamosto. In addition to the Portuguese discoveries in Brazil and the East, Huttich incorporates accounts of Marco Polo, and material collected by Peter Martyr. There are also numerous accounts of other European voyages. Huttich's work is one of the earliest to bring together in a single volume a number of otherwise extremely rare contemporary accounts of the earliest explorers, some of which are virtually unobtainable.
Contents of the volume here follows:
- Prefatio Simonis Grynaei ad Collimitium. Preface by Simon Grynaeus.
- Typi Cosmographici et Declaratio et usus, per Sebastianum Munsterum. Introduction by Sebastian Münster.
- Voyage of Cadamosto (c 1432-1488), Venetian explorer and trader.
- The first three voyages of Columbus
- Voyage of Pedro Alonso Niño
- Voyage of Vicente Yáñez Pinzón
- Third voyage of Vespucci
- Voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral
- Narrative of the Indian José
- Vespucci's four voyages (according to the Cosmographiae Introductio by Waldseemuller).
- King Manuel's letter to Pope Leo X on the conquests in India
- Voyages of Ludovico Varthema
- Description of the Holy Land
- Three books by Marco Polo
- Book of the Tartars by Haython
- Two books on Sarmatia by M. de Miechow
- Account of the Muscovite embassy by Paulo Giovio
- On the islands rediscovered by Peter Martyr d'Anghiera
- Two books on Prussian antiquities by Erasmus Stella
A very attractive example of the complete text (lacking map, as is frequently the case), which is important for collecting numerous early New World voyages.
Rarity
The present Paris issue of the 1532 Novus Orbis is quite rare in the market.