Die siebenzehende Schiffart. Das ist: Eigentliche unnd wahrhaftige Beschreibung der wunderbahrē Reiß und Schiffart so durch Herr Georgio von Spitzbergen glücklichen volbracht.

Beneben Erzehlung, was für Landschafften, Insuln Völcker vnd Nationen allda gefunden, und sich sonsten auff der Reiß denckwürdiges zugetragen. Mit schoenen Charten vnd Kupfferstücken erklärt und für Augen gestelt. Franckfurt am Mayn : durch Johan Hofern, sumptibus Hulsianis, 1620. Small quarto, later vellum over boards; gilded and gauffered edges; title with vignette of Spilbergen, sailing ship and indigenous man holding spear; pp. 93, with [8] plates; text in Gothic blackletter; browning (as usual), occasional underlining and meteorological comments in a 17th-century hand; a fine, tall copy.

An account of the Second Voyage of Spilbergen in 1614-17. This circumnavigation is recognised as the navigator’s premier achievement and was a significant historical voyage, conceived by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) to disrupt Spanish trade and fortifications in the Pacific, specifically along the west coast of South America.

‘After surviving several mutinies and other early difficulties, Spilbergen sailed through the Straits of Magellan and up the coast of Peru. He attacked several ports in Chili, blockaded Callao, and disrupted Spanish shipping throughout the area’. (Hill).

Spilbergen then crossed the Pacific and returned to Europe via the Philippines, the Moluccas, and the Cape of Good Hope.

The work forms part of a series of voyage accounts whose publication had been commenced by the Flemish-born scientific instrument maker, linguist, bookseller, and publisher Levinus Hulsius (1550-1606), with the intention of emulating the success of Theodor De Bry’s celebrated undertaking. The first of these appeared in 1598. Although Hulsius died in 1606, his publishing project was continued by his widow and heirs, with 26 volumes ultimately completed, the last in 1650. These volumes were often printed in both German and Latin versions, in many cases in multiple editions. The volume offered here is the only edition of the seventeenth part that was printed by the Hulsius workshop.

Church, 309; Sabin, 33670; cf. Hill, 1619 (an Amsterdam edition, undated).