Le Moyne de Morgues, Jacques

Brevis narratio eorum quae Florida Americae Provinciae Gallia acciderunt, secunda in allam Navigatione. Frankfurt: Theodore De Bry, 1591



Folio (14 x 9 3/8 in.; 355 x237 mm). Engraved title-page, engraved sectional title "Indorum Floridam provinciam inhabitantium eicones," engraved armorial on dedication leaf, engraved folding map of Florida "Floridae Americae Provinciae recens & exactissima descriptio," 43 half-page plate engravings, errata leaf at the end; additional double-folding plate of calendrical volvelles dated 1696–1715; skillful marginal repairs to approximately 17 leaves, some browning and closed tears chiefly along folds of map, sectional title remargined on all 4 sides, light browning in quire K.  Modern limp vellum, brown morocco lettering piece on spine.

Pier Paolo Vaccarino (library stamp on front free endpaper)

Alden & Landis 591/38; Arents Tobacco 40; Burden 79; Church 145; Schwartz & Ehrenberg, pp. 64–67

First edition of the second part of De Bry's "Great Voyages" series, with some of the earliest depictions of the indigeneous peoples of Florida. This account was written by Jacques Le Moyne, an artist who accompanied the French Huguenot René de Laudonnière on his ill-fated voyage to Florida in 1564. He escaped the massacre by the Spanish at Fort Caroline and travelled to England where he died. After his death, his widow sold his manuscripts and drawings to De Bry, by whom they were first published. Some of the place names on the map were derived from Indian sources but many were superseded in the seventeenth century by English colonists. De Bry's version of Le Moyne's map was later adapted by Hondius in 1606 for his editions of Mercator's Atlas.