Wonderlijcke Voyagie, by de Hollanders gedaen, door de Strate Magalanes, ende voorts den gantschen kloot des Aertbodems om, met vier Schepen : onder den Admirael Olivier van Noort,

uytghevaren Anno 1598. Hier achter is by-gevoeght de tweede Voyagie an Iacob van Neck, naer Oost-Indien. t’Amstelredam : Joost Hartgerts, 1648. Quarto (240 x 185 mm), later vellum-backed marbled papered boards; pp. 88; title with large woodcut, one foldout plate with 6 woodcuts; decorated initials, tailpieces; a very good copy with wide margins.

The fourth European circumnavigation, following those of Magellan, Cavendish, and Drake.

Olivier van Noort (1558-1627), a Dutch merchant captain, was the leader of an expedition of four ships financed by the Magellan Company, departing from Rotterdam in 1598, with the aim of raiding Spanish possessions in the Pacific and using the seized booty to trade with in China and the Spice Islands. After sailing down the Brazilian coast and through the Straits of Magellan, Van Noort sailed up the coast of Chile and Peru, sailing across the Pacific to the Ladrone Islands, Guam and the Philippines, with two ships of the four lost by this time (one would make its way to the Moluccas, where it was acquired by the king of Ternate). Following a battle with the Spanish in Manila, Van Noort sailed to Borneo and Brunei to establish trade relations, although this too ended in conflict, and Van Noort continued on to Java. The expedition sailed back to Rotterdam via the Cape of Good Hope, and in doing so, became the first Dutch voyage to circumnavigate the globe. The venture was a financial failure: three of the four ships were lost, the profits from spices purchased were negligible, and of the 250 men who set out with Van Noort, only 45 returned. However, the voyage was successful in circumnavigating the globe, gaining a great deal of public attention, and inspiring several generations of intrepid Dutch navigators to the East Indies.

To the main narrative is appended an abridged account of the second Dutch voyage to the East Indies, under the command of Jacob Corneliszoon van Neck, which was the first to visit the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) in 1598-99. This expedition was extremely successful, returning home with nearly one million pounds in weight of pepper and cloves, in addition to half a ship full of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon. Shortly after their return, in 1602 the VOC, or Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie) would be established and secured Dutch dominance in trade with the east for the next 350 years.

Tiele 809; Tiele, Mémoire, 21; Landwehr, VOC 251, 4; Sabin 55440; Alden 650/145