Description

BACKGROUND: This is a trio of rare books of the 14 Parts published in German by Theodore de Bry , these three using text translated from the Italian Girolamo Benzoni’s book, La Historia de Mondo Nuovo.  The present three books have identical size and bindings (except for the titles on the spines).Full calf bindings labeled on the spine “DE BRY REISE 4 (5) and (6)”.
 Benzoni’s observations of Spanish explorers and colonizers include German first editions of Part IV related to the Caribbean Sea and its littoral, Part V related to Mexico, and Part VI related to South America, primarily Peru. .

RARE: No other German-language first edition individual volumes or the set are offered on the internet i or on other dealer-sites

GIROLAMO BENZONI. At age 22, he departed Milan on a 14-year odyssey in the New World. He travelled throughout the Caribbean Sea, Central America and the coasts s of South America. He divided his single volume Historia into three Libros (books) which form the bases for de Bry’s three books offered here.                 

THEODORE DE BRY. In 1588, he and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt am Main where he became a citizen and began to plan his first publications. The master engraver Theodore used the German name “Dieterichs von Bry” in some of his earlier works.  

ART IV (AMERICA –CARIBBEAN)

—BOOK: Das vierdte Buch von der Neuwen Welt. Oder neuwe vnd gründtliche Historien, von dem Nidergängischen Indien, so von Christophoro Columbo im Jar 1492……This first German edition was printed in in 1594. Twenty-four engravings and one map. This book is State 2 where about half of the engraved plates have Arabic numerals engraved on the image. State 1 has none and State 3 is fully populated (Vavra, p. 79).(Church 183)

—MAP: Occidentalis Americæ partis, vel, earum Regionum quas Christophorus Colombus primu detexit Tabula Chorographicaè multorum Auctorum scriptis, præsertim verò ex Hieronymi Benzoni …  Historia, conflata & im æs incisa à Theodoro de Bry Leod’. Anno M D XCIIII (Burden, 83). This map, dated 1594 was engraved by Theodore de Bry showing parts of North, Central and South America. T the map was conflata (conflated) and the plate was incisa (cut) by Theodore de Bry. We should not attribute to Benzoni all or any part of this map (Vavra, p. 61).

PART V (LATIN AMERICA – MEXICO)

—BOOK: Americae Das fünffte Buch, Vol enoner unerhörter Historien, auß dem andern theil Ioannis Benzonis von Meylandt ….  (Church, 186). Published 1595,

—MAP: The map title is Hispaniæ Novæ Sivæ Magnæ, Recens et Vera Descriptio 1595.  The map, sometimes called New Spain shows the Pacific coast and central area of Mexico. The map is decorated with engravings of Native Americans, mountains, bison, canoes, ships, notes and two cartouches. Based on Abraham Ortelius’ 1579 work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. De Bry “borrowed” the Ortelius and updated, embellished and published this later version.
 
PART VI (LATIN AMERICA).  

—BOOK: Das sechste Theil der neuwen Welt. oder Der Historien Hieron. Benzo von Meylandt ….T heodore de Bry, Frankfurt am Main.  Twenty-eight engravings, one map and a double-page city view. (Church, 188). Published 1597.

—MAP: The title is America Sive Novus Orbis Respectu Europaeorum Inferior Globi Terrestri Pars. 1596. Publication data is at the bottom center: Francofurti ad Moenum Formis Theod. de Bry. (Burden 91.)

—CUSCO. Cusco urbs nobilissima et opulentissam Peruani regni . A double-page bird’s eye view of the capital of the Inca Empire (13th century – 1532) when it was conquered by the Spanish. 

CONDITION:  Pages trimmed by an earlier bookbinder (circa 1900) with the loss of the Roman numerals of the Part VI engravings. All three volumes e are newly conserved and have new full calf bindings. Complete, German 1^st editions. Very good condition.

MORE INFORMATION: Size limitations of the software preclude greater explanation f the contents and condition. For more information about the contents of individual books, see our separate issues for other Parts IV and VI on this site. For an in-depth look at Part V, continue to scroll beyond the Bibliography

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Benzoni, Girolamo. La Historia del Mondo Nuova. Venice: 1572. [The major text source-book for de Bry Parts IV-VI.]

Burden, Philip D. The Mapping of North America. Rickmansworth: Raleigh Publications, 1996.

Church, Elihu Dwight. A Catalogue of Books Relating to the discovery of North and South America, Forming a Part of Library of E. D. Church. 1907.

Vavra, Luke A. Exploration and Colonization of the New World 1492-1619: An Analysis of the German Editions [of] Theodore de Bry’s Part I (Virginia) 1590 and Part IV (Caribbean) 1594 of the Grand Voyages.  Self- published, 2023. [Available on this site. ]

**************************************************************************

PART V (NEW SPAIN), GRAND VOYAGES, 1595 BY THEODORE DE BRY.
 
DESCRIPTION: The rare German first edition of Part V of Theodore De Bry’s 14-partseries on the discovery and colonization of America. Printed in Frankfurt am Main by Johann Feyerabend in 1595. Complete with map of New Spain covering the southwestern region of North America, and includes  22 engravings based  on the text and four woodcuts  from the second part of Girolamo Benzoni’ s 1572 edition of La Historia del Mono Nuovo. Folio.  Two parts in one, separated by title pages. Ornaments throughout the text.
 
This first edition of German Part V can be identified with a slip of the German title pasted over the Latin text on the engraved title page, with the title as reproduced in Church number 186.  In this first edition the engraved plates numbered I-XXII have their Roman numerals printed on the right upper hand corners. In the second edition the plates have their Roman numerals printed in the center above the captions for the plates

De Bry relied on the earlier German translation by Nicolaus Höniger (Geneva 1582-83), with marginal elaborations by Urbain Chauveton.
 
 Dedicated to Landgrave Maurice of Hesse-Kassel.
 
PUBLICATION DATE: The year of publication, 1595, is taken from the tile of Church’s entry for Part V – “AMERICA DAS FVNFFTE BVCH. [FRANCKFVRT AM MAYN, 1595.]” The brackets indicate that the place and date of publication are not shown in the book. Instead, they were supplied from another unidentified source. The book does not have a colophon which would have supplied that information, nor does the title page reveal that publication data. The table of publication date sshown in Church 140 also has the bracketed date. The map lends help in verifying the book publication date – it is dated 1595.
 
 BOOK:  Americae Das fünffte Buch, Vol schöner unerhörter Historien, auß dem andern theil Ioannis Benzonis von Meylandt gezogen: Von der Spanier Wüten, beyd wider ihre Knecht die Nigriten, und auch die arme Indianer: wie die Spanier von den Frantzösischen Meerraubern zum offtermal angriffen unnd geplündert worden, denn auch, wie sie erstlich das neuwe Spanien erfunden haben, und gantz erbärmlich mit dem armen Landvölcklein daselbst umbgangen sind.   
 
Benzoin’s book contains a three-part narrative of his travels in the “new World” during the years 1541-56. It is an ethnological survey with detailed descriptions of the landscape and accounts of Spanish exploits. In the text Benzoni discusses the enslavement of the Natives, import of huge numbers slaves from Africa, shipwrecks, pirates, indigenous customs such as preparation of food, sleeping habits, dances and architecture, and his personal responses to Spanish occupation of the New World.
 
MAP: The map title is “Hispaniæ Novæ Sivæ Magnæ, Recens et Vera Descriptio 1595”. The map, sometimes called “New Spain” shows the Pacific coast of southwestern North America and the central area of Mexico. Shows a mythical sea with islands in the northwest. The map is decorated with engravings of Native Americans, mountains, bison, canoes, ships, notes and two cartouches. The de Bry version was “borrowed” from the Ortelius map dated 1579, published by Abraham Ortelius in his work Theatrum Orbis Terrarum. The decorative images of Indigenous people are unique to de Bry’s version of the map which also includes more place names than Ortelius’ original map.
 
ENGRAVINGS: The text is followed by 22 half-page engravings by De Bry, accompanied below by descriptions. Several engravings depict Spanish conquistadors committing acts of gross violence against the defenseless natives. The scenes reflect benzoin’s harsh criticism of the Spanish. De Bry never left Europe so he created images with European features.
 
THEODORE DE BRY (1528 – 1598) was born in Liège in what is now called Belgium. He followed the footsteps of his grandfather and father who were jewelers and engravers of copper plates, developing skills as an engraver and becoming a goldsmith and an engraver.  The Spanish Inquisition forced de Bry, a Protestant, to flee to Strasbourg, a free imperial city at that time.  From there he moved on to Antwerp and London and in 1588, he and his family moved permanently to Frankfurt am Main (pronounced “Mine” and referring to the river that passes by Frankfurt). There he became a citizen and began to plan his first publications.   In this German edition, de Bry identifies himself as a German “Dieterich von Bry, Burger in Franckfurt am Mayn”.
 
The most famous of the de Bry publications is known as the Grand Voyages (also called “Great Voyages”  published in Germany beginning with Part I in 1590. The Grand Voyages is about the discovery and early colonization of the New World. There were thirteen parts (volumes) written in Latin, fourteen in German and one each for the English and French editions. Publication of the English and French was discontinued after sales of the Part I yielded poor results. De Bry published a similar set of books related to the Orient which is known as the “Petit Voyages”, the books being smaller than those of the “”Grand Voyages”.
 
GIROLAMO BENZONI. Though little is known of his early life, Girolamo wrote that he came from humble origins. He was born in Milan, Italy about 1519 to a Catholic family ruined by misfortune and the continuing wars that were destroying the Italian states. Girolamo s father could not afford to send him to university; instead, he sent him to France, Germany, Spain and other cities in Italy. Throughout his travels, Girolamo heard of the wonders of the New World and was anxious to see them himself; in 1541 his dreams came true when, at age 22, he departed Milan for the New World. He returned home 14 years later and wrote La Historia del Mono Nuovo which de Bry used for this Part V as well as for the following two parts of the Grand Voyages.
 
CONDITION.  Very Good. FIRST EDITION. Recently restored and rehoused in a new full calf binding. Page 114 is wrongly labeled 115.
 
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
 
Benzoni, Girolamo. La Historia del Mondo Nuova. Venice: 1572. [The major source book for de Bry Parts IV-VI.]
 
Church, Elihu Dwight. A Catalogue of Books Relating to the discovery of North and South America, Forming a Part of Library of E. D. Church. Compiled and annotated George Watson Cole. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1907.
 
Crawford Library, Bibliotheca Lindesiana : Collations and Notes, no. 3 : Grands et Petits Voyages of de Bry. Author: James Ludovic Lindsay, Earl of Crawford. Published Bernard Quaritch, Piccadilly, 1884.
 
Van Groesen, Michiel. (2007). The De Bry collection of voyages (1590-1634): editorial strategy and the representations of the overseas world. Amsterdam: in eigen beheer [self-management]. [Groesen’s 2007 PhD thesis, 272 pages plus approximately 100 pages of supporting material. The best reference about the de Bry firm.]
 
Vavra, Luke A. Exploration and Colonization of the New World 1492-1619: An Analysis of the German Editions [of] Theodore de Bry’s Part I (Virginia) 1590 and Part IV (Caribbean) 1594 of the Grands Voyages.  Self- published, 2023.