Travel & Exploration

Goes’ definitive Humanist Chronicle validates the Portuguese Empire in India

First edition, one of the rarest and most important Chronicles of the Portuguese expansion and discoveries in India, Asia, and Brazil, a fine copy preserving all title pages; this history of King Manuel, written by Portugal’s eminent humanist and chronicler Damian de Goes, is a monumental work, much of what we today know of his reign, arguably Portugal’s Golden Age of expansion, is based on this Chronica. A beautiful copy, bearing the author's signature on title-pages.

The official decree regulating commerce between Spain and her new territory of Louisiana, excluding all commerce with France and her colonies

First edition of this royal decree attempting to regulate commerce between Spain and her new territory of Louisiana, by excluding all commerce with France and her colonies

Containing the world map with the portraits of Vespucci, Drake, Cavendish and El Cano, first Hulsius illustrated edition of Houtman’s voyage

Early illustrated edition by Hulsius of this important account of the first Dutch voyage to the East Indies, made in 1595-97 under the command of Cornelis de Houtman (1565-1599), handsomely illustrated with maps and plates, unlike the earlier unillustrated first edition. The translation from the original Dutch into German was done by the Flemish-born scientific instrument maker, linguist, bookseller, and publisher Levinus Hulsius.

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.

Debating the end of slavery in Africa, published in Luanda

Rare and highly important – one of very few works that focus on the debate surrounding the end of slavery in Africa between colonial luminaries; published in Luanda, it's the work of the ardent abolitionist Eduardo de Balsemão, Secretary General of Angola, who advocated the immediate end of slavery in Portuguese Africa. It was written as a response to the senior Luanda judge, Carlos Pacheco de Bettencourt, who argued that slavery should be ended in a gradual fashion, over a 10-year period. To support his case, Balsemão uses the example of the recent ‘Port Royal Experiment’, whereupon a group of newly freed slaves in South Carolina proved that they could be successful and productive without white supervision. One of the most engaging and insightful early Angola imprints, providing a critical, yet under-appreciated, perspective on one of the great debates of the era.

One of the finest and largest sets of De Bry’s collection of travel accounts on the Americas

Exquisitely bound set of the Latin edition of De Bry’s Grand Voyages, one of the finest works on the Americas, here comprising eleven parts in genuine condition, housed in a fine binding of Dutch red morocco by the Double Drawer Handle bindery of Amsterdam, active in Amsterdam between 1697 and 1742(?).

The best printed source on Santo Domingo and its population issue and the need for African slaves, complete with the rarely-seen large map

First edition, large-paper and exceptionally rare complete copy, including the normally missing large map in two sheets by Lopez; this is the best printed source on Santo Domingo of the 18th century, written by the first Santo Domingo-born author.

An Early Monograph on Portuguese East Africa, and its Trade with Brazil

Sole edition of this privately-printed description of the commercial importance of Portuguese East Africa, especially in regard to its relations with the newly-independent Brazil. The British abolition of the slave trade in 1807 focused its efforts mainly on the trade from the West Coast of Africa, and Portuguese merchants were quick to pivot their attention to the longer routes from Mozambique, which exported nearly a million slaves during the 19th century.

Interesting sammelband relating to the struggle between the Portuguese and the Dutch over the trading posts in West Africa and it’s profitable slave trade

First edition, a remarkable collection shedding valuable light on the commercial conflicts between Portugal and the Dutch trading companies in West Africa during the early 18th century, the present memorandum concerns a renewed dispute between Portugal and the Dutch East India Company over claims to the territory of Guinea and its profitable slave trade. Although the work claims to be the first Portuguese edition, no earlier edition of this text is known in any language, neither Sabin nor Alden-Landis record a Portuguese edition, nor is any other text by this author known.

The rarest of the 15th century editions

Second Italian edition, the rarest of the 15th century editions, this being one of only five known copies, and the only realistically obtainable incunable edition in a century. This is the only copy of this edition, as well as the only complete copy of any incunable edition, recorded at auction in the past 30 years.

Exceptionally rare first edition of the Acta Consistorii, the official account of the Tensho Embassy

The first edition of the official account of Pope Gregory XIII’s reception of the first Japanese embassy to Europe, the so-called Tenshō Embassy, extremely rare. It includes copies of three letters, dated January 1582, addressed to the Pope from the converted rulers of Bungo, Arima and Omura, which were presented by the Japanese envoys at the public audience; the text of the “Oratio” delivered on their behalf by Gaspar Gonsalves; and Antonio Boccapaduli’s response in the name of the Pope. A number of editions were published in 1585 (Padua, Milan, and Germany), this first edition is extremely rare.

The most influential Portuguese chronicle of the 16th century, narrating the explorations and settlements of the Portuguese in Asia

First editions, the compendium of Portuguese voyages of exploration and discoveries in Asia, the most substantial and accepted Portuguese account of their deeds in the region, providing a description of the discoveries and colonization of Portuguese possessions world-wide up to 1515. Barros’s Asia was the only sixteenth-century work written in Portuguese to receive a significant European reception, and is of outstanding importance for both the Far East and Brazil.

One of the great accounts of travel in Asia printed in today´s China, the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century

Extremely rare first edition of this account of Antonio de Albuquerque Coelho’s (1682-1745) eventful journey from Goa to Macao in 1717-1718, in many ways the first of its kind, and the only Sino-European secular book to have been printed in Macao in the 18th century. The Jornada is one of the mere 11 books printed in Macao between 1662 and 1718, and as aforementioned, the only one of a secular nature.

The unusual first edition, published in Habana, of this landmark album of views of Cuba, arguably Cuba’s iconographic masterpiece of the 19th century

First edition, the exceptionally rare original edition printed in Habana of Miahle’s views of Cuba, more commonly known for its reimpression in Berlin by May.

Early edition, commissioned by Hakluyt, of the first complete English translation of Martyr’s history of the New World

Second edition, extremely rare, here with the five final books translated into English (not present in Eden’s translation of 1555) commissioned by Hakluyt; the first edition of this work was published in 1612, and it was the first complete edition in a vernacular language. “The first, and for many years the only, history of the New World ... in many respects the sole contemporary source of information concerning the discovery and conquest of America” (Church). The commissioning of the translation has been attributed to Hakluyt; “is in his pattern of emphasizing Spanish imperialism as an example to the English” (Parker, p. 209).