This title page is centered on a beautifully rendered sailing ship in an elaborate strapwork cartouche that contains four views of major cities in the Dutch trading empire: Antwerp, Amsterdam, Middelburg, and Enkhuizen. Linschoten was an important Dutch explorer. The valuable sailing instructions that he managed to acquire from the secret Portuguese archives helped launch the Dutch trading empire in the East Indies. His travel writings, the famous Itinerario, published in three parts (Description de l’Amerique, Le Grande Route de Mer, and Histoire de la Navigation), was one of the most important early accounts of India, the Far East, Portuguese Africa, and the New World. This is from the French edition with the publisher's imprint "Chez Iean Evertsz Cloppenburc, Marchand libraire, demeurant sur le Water a la Bible Doree." On a full sheet measuring 7.9 x 12.0".

References: cf. Shirley (BL Atlases) G.LIN-1a.

Condition: B+

A nice impression on a watermarked sheet with a light stain at the top of the masts, minor foxing that is mostly in the margins, and a hint of toning.