"[Grands Voyages, Part IV] Americae Pars Quarta sive, Insignis & Admiranda Historia de Reperta Primum Occidentali India a Christophoro Columbo...", Bry, Theodore de

This lot includes 22 engravings from a Latin edition of Part IV of de Bry's landmark compilation of travel and discovery narratives. This volume chronicles the first part of Girolamo Benzoni's history of the world, focusing on his travels throughout the West Indies. Benzoni, an Italian explorer, spent 15 years traveling through the Spanish possessions in the New World. He published an account of his travels in Historia del Mondo Nuovo, first published in Italian in Venice in 1565. De Bry followed a Latin translation of Benzoni's work to publish in his Grand Voyages, adding numerous engravings. This lot includes the title page, "To the Reader," epigram, and numbered Plates 1-19. (Part IV was published with 24 numbered plates, however this lot only includes the first 19 numbered plates.) The title page to this volume is presented in an organic style, with Columbus' ships sailing through a rock arch at bottom and a grotesque Indian god being worshiped at top. A variety of West Indian natives fill the jungle scene that surrounds the Latin title. The page "To the Reader" features an engraving that is intended to depict Columbus crossing the Atlantic, however was copied from an engraving by Joannes Stradanus that was meant to depict Amerigo Vespucci. The epigram includes the plate America Retectio, an allegorical engraving commemorating the discovery of the New World. Flora (Florence) and Janus (Genoa) reveal a globe, that rests on the reclined body of Neptune (Oceanus), above a map of the coast of Italy. The title is suspended between portraits of Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci. Within the globe, Columbus’ ship, the Santa Maria, is shown leaving Genoa and approaching the West Indies and Vespucci’s ship is shown departing Italy (near his hometown of Florence) and sailing along the coast of South America. Mars displays the arms of Florence at upper right, while Neptune presents the arms of Genoa at left. The 19 numbered plates in this volume feature engravings of Benzoni, Columbus, and their adventures in the West Indies, Central America, and northern South America:

1. Departure of Benzoni from Sanlucar, Spain
2. Flying fish and dolphins in the Atlantic
3. An old Indian woman of Venezuela
4. Indian slaves are captured to work in the pearl fisheries
5. Spanish immortality is tested on Puerto Rico
6. Columbus reaches the West Indies
7. Columbus' Egg
8. Columbus departs on his first voyage from Huelva, Spain
9. Columbus lands on the island of San Salvador
10. Columbus punishes the seditious Spanish
11. A terrifying storm hits Hispaniola
12. Columbus discovers pearls off Cubagua
13. Columbus and his brother are arrested
14. Mutiny in Jamaica
15. The discovery of the Magellan Strait
16. Indians of Venezuela murder Spanish monks
17. The Spanish get their revenge
18. Indians are attached near Cartagena
19. Lope de Olano rebuilds his boat in Panama

References:

Condition: B+

The plates have light toning and foxing, and occasional dampstains. Plate XI has moderate toning and Plate XII is trimmed to the edge of the image at left. The plates appear to be compiled from different examples as they are on different sized sheets.