This superb frontispiece features a rare portrait of Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1563-1611) with small plans in the corners of Goa, Mozambique, and two of St. Helena. Linschoten was an important Dutch explorer who sailed via the Cape of Good Hope to Portuguese Goa in 1583 and later explored the Arctic Ocean with Willem Barents. The valuable sailing instructions that Van Linschoten had managed to acquire from the secret Portuguese archives helped launch the Dutch trading empire in the East Indies. French text commemorating Linschoten appears below the portrait, and the list of plates and maps in the volume appear on verso.

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Condition: A

Faint dampstaining in the bottom blank margin, well away from engraved image.