Lot 3183
  • 3183

Laet, Johannes de (1593-1649).

Estimate
400 - 600 GBP
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Description

  • Notae ad dissertationem Hugonis Grotii de origine gentium Americanarum. Amsterdam: Louis Elzevir, 1643, 223, [1]pp., illustration: woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut headpieces and initials
Ibid. Responsio ad dissertationem secundam Hvgonis Grotii. Amsterdam: Louis Elzevir, 1644, [4], 116, [8]pp., illustration: woodcut printer's device to title-page, woodcut headpieces and initials



2 works in one volume, 8vo (148 x 82mm.), binding: eighteenth-century speckled calf, spine in compartments gilt, brown morocco lettering piece, pink edges, very light spotting, a couple of tiny marginal holes

Literature

Sabin 38561, 38563; Willems 997, 1007; Alden 463/77, 644/92; C.W.E. Miller, "Ne Extra Oleas", American Journal of Philology 35/4 (1914), 456-462

Catalogue Note

first editions. Johannes de Laet refutes Hugo Grotius’ theories, propounded in De origine gentium Americanarum (1642). Grotius opined that the peoples of North America had their origins in Norway, those of the Yucatan in Ethiopia, and those of South America in China. Laet’s work incorporates Grotius' text and features comparative vocabularies of European and aboriginal American languages. As such it is an interesting source for linguistic history.