This copper engraving is from a remarkable series of publications, illustrating voyages of discovery and travels of exploration to various parts of the world. The project was begun by Theodore de Bry of Frankfurt, in 1590 and was to continue for another 54 years. They became known collectively as the Grands Voyages (to America and the West Indies) and the Petits Voyages (to the Orient and the East Indies). De Bry died after the first six parts of the Grands Voyages were completed. The project was completed initially by his widow and two sons, Johann Theodore de Bry and Johann Israel de Bry, then by his son-in-law, Matthaus Merian in 1644.

This handsome engraving depicts Sir Francis Drake meeting Sultan Baabullah of Ternate in November 1579. Drake traded the sultan linen for six tons of cloves and various other spices and provisions. The impressive haul was thrown overboard when Drake's ship, the Golden Hind, snagged on a reef in the Celebes in January 1580, but the contact with the sultan provided an important opening for future English trade in the East. It was published in Johann Ludwig Gottfried's Historia Antipodum, an abridgement of De Bry's voyages to America that incorporated much new material. Matthaus Merian, de Bry's son-in-law and publisher for Historia Antipodum, was granted access to de Bry's copper-engraved plates and also engraved several new plates. This is one of the new plates. On a sheet of German text measuring 8.0 x 13.1".

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Condition: A

A dark impression with a few wormholes in the blank margins, well away from engraved image.