Ramusio | Navigationi et viaggi, 1563-1583-1565, 3 volumes

RAMUSIO, GIOVANNI BATTISTA

Navigationi et viaggi. Venice: Giunti, 1563-1583-1565

3 volumes, third edition of volume 1, second editions of volumes 2 and 3 (see footnote), folio (306 x 202; 313 x 212; 313 x 210mm.), volume 1 with 3 double-page engraved maps (Arabia and Africa, India and the Gulf, and Indochina and Indonesia), full-page woodcut map of the Nile (including the Red Sea, and Arabia), and 10 woodcuts, including 6 plans, some full-page, in text, volume 2 with one woodcut in text, volume 3 with 7 double-page woodcut maps and plans (including the Western hemisphere, Brazil and Newfoundland), full-page woodcut of Mexico City, full-page map of Haiti, and over 35 other woodcuts in text, uniform later vellum, speckled edges, each volume housed in a modern custom-made folding box, some expert repairs and restoration, small hole repaired in title of volume 1, hole in centre of title of volume 2 repaired and restored with some text supplied in pen and ink facsimile, very faint stamp on title and second leaf in upper blank margin of volume 2, occasional minor stains

A GOOD SET. "THIS IS ONE OF THE EARLIEST AND THE MOST IMPORTANT COLLECTION OF VOYAGES AND TRAVELS OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY; THE THIRD VOLUME BEING ENTIRELY DEVOTED TO AMERICA... THE EDITIONS OF 1563, 1583 and 1565 OF THE RESPECTIVE VOLUMES ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE BEST" (Church).

"The publication of Ramusio's Raccolta may be said to open an era in the literary history of Voyages and Navigation. Instead of accounts carelessly copied and translated from previous collections, perpetuating errors and anachronisms, we find in this valuable work original narrations judiciously selected, carefully printed, and enriched with notices which betray the hand of a scholar with great critical acumen" (Harrisse). The maps have been attributed to the great Italian cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi, tutor to Ramusio's children, and include important maps of the Americas, New England and maritime Canada.

LITERATURE:

Sabin 67732, 67738, 67741; cf. Church 99 (1554, 1559, 1556); Hill (2004) cf.1419 (1554), cf.1420 (1559), 1421; cf. Harrisse 304

PROVENANCE:

Boisjoly, signature in volume 1