Travel & Exploration

Early edition of Sir Mandeville’s landmark work

An Italian vernacular edition of the Travels of Sir John Mandeville, the fundamental travel book, first best-seller in the genre, and a text which greatly influenced the course of subsequent exploration. One of the most popular texts of the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, taking the reader to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, Tartary, India and Cathay, its influence was profound and persisted well into the era of printing and the age that saw the Western discoveries of the New World and the sea routes to Asia.

The itinerary from Venice to Constantinople in pictures

Attractive copy of a highly illustrated itinerary from Venice to Constantinople, comprising 72 full-page maps, including many of Constantinople and also of Cyprus, Famagusta, Crete, Rhodes, Jerusalem and the Near East. Published several times in the first half of the 17th century, the subsequent editions contained a variable number of plates. The maps show cities and outposts along the Mediterranean, the Dalmatian coast and the Levant.

A rare Spanish account of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, unlocated in the United States.

Second edition, extremely rare, of the account of the pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1518 by the Marquis of Tarifa accompanied by Juan del Encina, one of the earliest Spanish accounts of a voyage to Middle East, and one of the rarest accounts of a Holy Land pilgrimage, an interesting addition to the corpus of better-known accounts of voyages of the Holy Land. The narrative details the journey through the south of Europe and the Middle East on the way to Jerusalem. During the trip, the Marquis contacted local noblemen, merchants, and acquired books for his library, including works by Boccaccio and Marco Polo. The book is extraordinarily rare, as is the first edition printed in 1580 in Lisbon, of which no copy is located in OCLC.

The first description of the Escorial and its contents, by its architect.

First edition, first issue, extraordinarily rare, of the first description of the Escorial, by Juan de Herrera, the architect of what is widely regarded as the most impressive building created in Spain in the 16th century. A book of exceptional rarity, and importance, which gives us the architect´s feel of what his magnum opus is and looks like. Herrera was the author of a set of drawings on the Escorial which were engraved by Pedro Perret Perret (1555-1637).

First edition of the first major survey of China, which influenced European perception of the country for a century; the first appearance of Espejo’s exploration of Mexico.

First edition of the first major survey of China, and an early Americana, noted by Sabin as the “First European book in which Chinese characters occur” (Sabin); it was translated into Italian, French, Latin, German, and English by order of Richard Hakluyt by Robert Parke. It was a true 16th century best seller and the first serious work on China, influential for over a century. Finally, it also contains significant material on the Philippines.

Bound in contemporary Spanish Mudejar bindings, one of the first Spanish works to adhere to the Ptolemaic geographical vision of the World, used by 15th century explorers such as Columbus

First edition of a cosmographically-relevant Spanish work, apparently the first published in Spain to adhere to the Ptolemaic theory of the world, printed at the first press established Valencia (Spain), in a fascinating strictly contemporary Spanish “Mudejar” style binding.

Detailed account of missionary work in the Far East 1807-1819, printed in Malacca on Asian paper

First edition, printed in Malacca, a detailed account of a wide variety of missionary activities in China, Southeast Asia and the East Indies by the Scottish Protestant missionaries Robert Morrison (1782-1834), who arrived in Macau in 1807, and William Milne (1785-1822), who joined him there in 1813. They were the first Protestant missionaries in China, made the second complete Chinese translation of the Bible, set up two printing offices (including the press at Malacca that produced the present book) and established the Anglo-Chinese College at Malacca under the auspices of the London Missionary Society in 1818.

Manuscript account of a French sailor’s voyage to South America, poisoned on the voyage out of Valparaiso

Detailed account of a trip to South America and back by a Frenchman, Jean Quesnel, as a passenger for Valparaiso and Lima on the Nueva Señora de Pilar. His uncle, who had twice made the transatlantic voyage, was navigator under a Spanish Captain and supercargo.

Rare biography of a two-term 16th century Viceroy of India

Rare first and only edition of this biography of Don Luis de Ataide (1517-1581), Viceroy of Portuguese India twice, famous for his defense of India from the Muslim alliance, by the Jesuit Pereira de Macedo

Ottsen’s account of the the first Dutch Voyage to South America, Brazil and the River Plate, and the first account of Buenos Aires as known today

Known as the first printed account of a Dutch voyage to South America, this is one of rarest of all works relating to the Dutch interest in the region, it is also the first printed account of Buenos Aires as known today, here in the extremely scarce third edition.