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Auction archive: Lot number 9

The Great and Small Voyages

Estimate
US$250,000 - US$350,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Auction archive: Lot number 9

The Great and Small Voyages

Estimate
US$250,000 - US$350,000
Price realised:
n. a.
Beschreibung:

The Great and Small Voyages Theodor de Bry 1580-1634 BRY, Theodor de (1528-1598) et al. [THE GREAT AND SMALL VOYAGES], text in Latin. Frankfurt and Oppenheim, 1590-1634. [With:] The c.1768 De Bure facsimile of the extremely rare Elenchus. The complete set of de Bry’s Voyages in Latin—the greatest collection of travel writings assembled in early modern Europe. Theodor de Bry was inspired by the work of the English writer Richard Hakluyt, who had put together his own collection of voyages and encouraged de Bry to try his hand as well. Theodor completed the first part in 1590, and he went on to publish five further parts before his death in 1598, when his wife and sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel, took over the task of completing the Great Voyages and began the Small Voyages. These works were immediately popular, drawing together a huge amount of material and, most enduringly, providing what would become the founding iconography of the Americas and the East Indies in the European imagination. It was “the first collection to contain illustrations based on original eyewitness sketches made north of Mexico … [Thomas] Hariot’s Report had been published in London in 1588 without illustrations, but de Bry and his workshop of talented engravers added twenty-two plates derived from watercolors John White had made at the English settlement of Roanoke” (Creating America 81). While in some cases, as with Hariot, de Bry and his heirs were able to adapt already existing illustrations in their characteristic style, in others new images had to be conjured up based on the text. Frequently, as in the case of Le Moyne de Morgues’s voyages, “de Bry’s engravers evidently took considerable liberties with the originals, giving the Indians classical musculature and sacrificing accuracy of observation to European artistic conventions,” resulting in an illustration program which was captivating yet “full of contradictions” (Creating America 43). These images were used and reused “for the next three centuries, often out of context, by publishers who needed pictures of Indians” (ibid.). The reception of both text and image was colored not only by the de Brys' European-ness, but by their Protestantism—contributing to the Black Legend of Spain through their portrayal of the activities of Spanish atrocities in the New World. The Voyages were published over nearly half a century in multiple parts. According to Margaret Stillwell, “it happened that while the later parts of the de Bry series were being issued, the first parts ran out of print. Such was their popularity, owing to interest in the subject of their narratives and to the engraved illustrations of Indian life and of the customs of strange nations, that new parts were struck off and made up with remnants of the former issue. Because of this and other complicating features, the various de Bry sets present such an intermingling of the old and the new that probably every set in existence is variant from every other.” Complete sets rarely come to auction. The present set includes all 25 parts of the Latin edition, with the 18th-century De Bure facsimile of the vanishingly rare Elenchus, and many engravings present in multiple states. See the below for a more detailed listing of the contents. Creating America 43 and 81; Margaret Stillwell, Incunabula and Americana p. 76-77; Crawford, Collations and Notes No 3 Grands et Petits Voyages of de Bry, pp. 105-154 and pp.159-182. Comprising: THE GREAT VOYAGES [Americas]. Parts I-XIII with De Bure Elenchus facsimile in four volumes, folio (326 x 230mm). Modern purple morocco with gilt lozenge in the center board by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, edges gilt. Custom slipcases, chemises, and boxes. Volume 1: I. [HARIOT'S VIRGINIA.] Admiranda Narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae. Frankfurt: Johannes Wechel, 1590. Engraved title, dedicatory arms, double-page map of Virginia, Adam and Eve plate in supposed first state, 27 engraved plates, 2 of

Auction archive: Lot number 9
Auction:
Datum:
25 May 2022
Auction house:
Christie's
King Street, St. James's 8
London, SW1Y 6QT
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7839 9060
+44 (0)20 73892869
Beschreibung:

The Great and Small Voyages Theodor de Bry 1580-1634 BRY, Theodor de (1528-1598) et al. [THE GREAT AND SMALL VOYAGES], text in Latin. Frankfurt and Oppenheim, 1590-1634. [With:] The c.1768 De Bure facsimile of the extremely rare Elenchus. The complete set of de Bry’s Voyages in Latin—the greatest collection of travel writings assembled in early modern Europe. Theodor de Bry was inspired by the work of the English writer Richard Hakluyt, who had put together his own collection of voyages and encouraged de Bry to try his hand as well. Theodor completed the first part in 1590, and he went on to publish five further parts before his death in 1598, when his wife and sons, Johann Theodor and Johann Israel, took over the task of completing the Great Voyages and began the Small Voyages. These works were immediately popular, drawing together a huge amount of material and, most enduringly, providing what would become the founding iconography of the Americas and the East Indies in the European imagination. It was “the first collection to contain illustrations based on original eyewitness sketches made north of Mexico … [Thomas] Hariot’s Report had been published in London in 1588 without illustrations, but de Bry and his workshop of talented engravers added twenty-two plates derived from watercolors John White had made at the English settlement of Roanoke” (Creating America 81). While in some cases, as with Hariot, de Bry and his heirs were able to adapt already existing illustrations in their characteristic style, in others new images had to be conjured up based on the text. Frequently, as in the case of Le Moyne de Morgues’s voyages, “de Bry’s engravers evidently took considerable liberties with the originals, giving the Indians classical musculature and sacrificing accuracy of observation to European artistic conventions,” resulting in an illustration program which was captivating yet “full of contradictions” (Creating America 43). These images were used and reused “for the next three centuries, often out of context, by publishers who needed pictures of Indians” (ibid.). The reception of both text and image was colored not only by the de Brys' European-ness, but by their Protestantism—contributing to the Black Legend of Spain through their portrayal of the activities of Spanish atrocities in the New World. The Voyages were published over nearly half a century in multiple parts. According to Margaret Stillwell, “it happened that while the later parts of the de Bry series were being issued, the first parts ran out of print. Such was their popularity, owing to interest in the subject of their narratives and to the engraved illustrations of Indian life and of the customs of strange nations, that new parts were struck off and made up with remnants of the former issue. Because of this and other complicating features, the various de Bry sets present such an intermingling of the old and the new that probably every set in existence is variant from every other.” Complete sets rarely come to auction. The present set includes all 25 parts of the Latin edition, with the 18th-century De Bure facsimile of the vanishingly rare Elenchus, and many engravings present in multiple states. See the below for a more detailed listing of the contents. Creating America 43 and 81; Margaret Stillwell, Incunabula and Americana p. 76-77; Crawford, Collations and Notes No 3 Grands et Petits Voyages of de Bry, pp. 105-154 and pp.159-182. Comprising: THE GREAT VOYAGES [Americas]. Parts I-XIII with De Bure Elenchus facsimile in four volumes, folio (326 x 230mm). Modern purple morocco with gilt lozenge in the center board by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, edges gilt. Custom slipcases, chemises, and boxes. Volume 1: I. [HARIOT'S VIRGINIA.] Admiranda Narratio fida tamen, de commodis et incolarum ritibus Virginiae. Frankfurt: Johannes Wechel, 1590. Engraved title, dedicatory arms, double-page map of Virginia, Adam and Eve plate in supposed first state, 27 engraved plates, 2 of

Auction archive: Lot number 9
Auction:
Datum:
25 May 2022
Auction house:
Christie's
King Street, St. James's 8
London, SW1Y 6QT
United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7839 9060
+44 (0)20 73892869
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