Speculum orientalis occidentalisque Indiae navigationum.

Lugduni Batavorum [i.e. Leiden] : Nicolaus van Geelkercken, 1619. Small oblong quarto (190 x 250 mm), contemporary limp vellum with early manuscript title and collection number to spine; title with large engraved vignette (early ownership signature to upper margin); pp. [4] (blank), 175, [5] (blank); with folding engraved world map and a further 24 engraved maps, plans and views (including 2 folding maps, 2 double-page maps, one folding view and one double-page view); one preliminary leaf chipped at fore-edge, a few of the plates browned, otherwise sound and clean throughout, a very good example; housed in a custom clamshell box of half morocco over marbled papered boards and cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt.

Spilbergen’s “The East and West Indian Mirror” was first published in Leiden in 1619 in simultaneous Dutch and Latin editions. A second issue of each edition was printed in the same year. This is the first Latin edition, second issue (the same as the first issue in every respect but with the name of Hondius added to the imprint on the title). All of the 1619 editions, both Dutch and Latin, were issued with the same plates.

In 1614 Joris van Spilbergen’s Dutch East India Company flotilla, comprised of six ships, set out for the Moluccas with the intention of reaching the East Indies via the Strait of Magellan and crossing the Pacific from east to west. The expedition sailed first to Brazil, then through the Strait of Magellan and northwards along the coasts of Chile and Peru, as far as California. Its vessels were armed and carried out attacks on Spanish settlements and shipping en route. Spilbergen then sailed for the Philippines and on to Batavia, where he failed to locate a Spanish fleet rumoured to be planning attacks against Dutch interests in the Moluccas. Instead, he encountered Le Maire and Schouten, who had recently arrived from their Pacific crossing on behalf of the Compagnie Australe only to be arrested for breaching the VOC monopoly on the Strait of Magellan passage. Spilbergen was responsible for conducting Le Maire, Schouten and their men back to the Netherlands (although Le Maire died on the voyage).

“The Mirror is an extremely important book for the history of Dutch navigation” (Borba de Moraes).

Howgego S159; Landwehr (VOC) 361; Sabin 89450; Alden & Landis 619/133; Borba de Moraes II:276