Early 17th-Century Illustrated Account of the West Coast of Africa
A rare, partially complete, example of this early Dutch voyage to Africa - Pieter de Marees's travels to Guinea in 1600-1602. All original editions of Hulsius's volumes are quite rare in the market.
This is the third edition of Part VII of Hulsius's collection. The first edition of the Hulsius/Marees appeared in 1603, with a second edition in 1606.
The present work focuses on aspects of African culture and society as observed during the voyage of Dutch merchant Pieter de Marees to the Gold Coast (modern-day Ghana) in the early 17th-century. The volume documents interactions with local peoples, illustrating details about their customs, including fishing techniques, trade practices, and geography of the West African coast.
A chapter titled "Wie die Manns Personen sich schmücken und was sie für ein Kleydung gebrauchen" ("How the men adorn themselves and what clothing they use"), discusses the decorative practices, attire, and the significance of personal embellishment among people in African societies. An accompanying engraved plate shows various male and female hairstyles and headgear of the people of Benin. The male heads, titled "Capita Hominum" (Men’s Heads), and the female heads, titled "Capita Mulierum" (Women’s Heads), represent diverse and stylized depictions of how individuals adorned their hair or wore specific ornaments, possibly indicating social or cultural roles.
The engraved plates in the work are very interesting, being somewhat crude copies after De Bry. Tiele goes so far as to call Hulsius's engravings "weak" imitations of De Bry's illustrations. However, given the publication history and rarity of the Hulsius volumes (which are much rarer than De Bry), from the standpoint of printing history the present plates are quite fascinating. The engravings present herein mostly depict African people and are clearly shaped by European ideas of exoticism. They aimed to provide readers with visual insight into the cultures encountered by Dutch explorers and traders. Such images were influential in shaping European perceptions of Africa, though they clearly lacked nuance or any hit of cultural sensitivity.
Plates present:
- No. 1. Capita Hominum / Capita Mulierum. Head dress styles.
- No. 3 1/2. A European ship and African people in an adjacent canoe bartering. One of the Africans on board the ship admires himself in a large mirror.
- No. 4. Large group of Africans in a market place. In the center a European man unrolls a large cloth for locals to purchase.
- No. 5A. Religious ceremonies. Three men at lower left enjoy a feast. Another man beats a drum as two woman dance or perform a religious ceremony. In the background additional groups appear engaged in ceremonies.
- No. 5B. Illustration of various customs. An African king's house in the background, with a long drum and water pot before the entrance.
- No. 6. Three African men wielding spears, a shield and other weapons. A village burns in the background.
- No. 7. Depicts violent punishments and executions.
- No. 8, 9, 10. African fishing techniques.
Levinus Hulsius's collection of voyages, the Sammlung von Sechs und Zwanig Schiffarten, which his heirs extended to 26 volumes after his death in 1606, can be considered a competitor, or perhaps more accurately, a supplement to De Bry's Great and Small Voyages. Hulsius's set is extremely rare, as are the individual volumes. As far back as the Church catalogue (1907) bibliographers have noted that "sets of [Hulsius] in anything approaching completeness are of extreme rarity... even more so than those of De Bry." And Burden points out how the Hulsius series was "known for its accuracy."
Rarity
Only two complete examples noted as sold per RBH in the last 70 years.