William Barentsz (2 results)

Condition: Very Good. William Barentsz - Caertboeck Vande Midlandtsche Zee, Amsterdam 1595 Theatrvm Orbis Terrarvm - series of atlases in facsimile. 5th series - Volume IV.Publisher: Theatrvm Orbis, Amsterdam.Language: English introduction, rest in Dutch.Binding: hardback cloth.Illustrated: yes.Description / Condition: Light edge wear/marks to jacket otherwise fine. A nice copy.Please see pictures for further information.

The first Italian edition of de Veer's important compilation of three Arctic voyages, published the year after the Dutch original. Two issues of Giunio Parisio's translation were printed the same year, one by Giovanni Ciotti and the present one by Porro. De Veer was an officer under William Barentsz's second and third voyages, and one of the fewer than ten who survived the horrific shipwreck of the latter (wherein much of the crew froze to death and many others were devoured by polar bears). Thus much of the material in this work is relayed from firsthand experience, and presents a remarkable narrative of intrepid exploration and survival against the odds. The fine engravings are reduced versions of the illustrations in the first edition. The three voyages contained herein were undertaken by Barentsz from 1594-97 under the auspices of the Dutch government. During the first voyage of 1594, the coast of Nova Zembla was successfully explored to its northernmost point. Searching for a Northeast Passage north of Siberia, Barents and his crew were the unlucky participants in the first recorded encounter with a polar bear, and had a similarly deadly run-in with a large herd of walruses (both of which melees are ably depicted in the numerous engravings). The second voyage of 1595 proved a failure when pack ice blocked the passage of the ships between the Straits of Vaigatz and the mainland as late as the summer months, the result of an especially harsh Arctic winter, though the crew did meet and converse with a group of Samoyed men. Notably, Jan Huygen van Linschoten, apparently not satisfied by his extensive travels in the East and West Indies, was also a part of Barentsz's crew on the first two voyages. The third voyage (1596-97), which occupies the lion's share of the volume, ranks as one of the great journeys in the history of polar exploration. The expedition sailed north, discovering Bear Island and Spitzbergen. Unable to proceed further north because of pack ice, Barents changed to an easterly course, finally cruising the northern tip of Nova Zembla, where his ship was wrecked by ice. It was at this point that the expedition achieved the first recorded wintering in the polar region, in the husk of their wrecked ship. The engravings illustrate the construction of the camp on the ice, fights with bears, encounters with locals, and all manner of hardships. Barentsz himself died of exposure in June of 1597; the surviving crew, including the author, managed to escape the Arctic by sailing down the coast of Nova Zembla in two open boats and crossing the White Sea to Lapland, an exposed voyage of some 1600 miles. An attractive and early compilation of these important Arctic journeys. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 599/91. JCB (3)I:377. EDIT 16, 59013. USTC 862191. Later vellum over stiff boards. Light soiling and shelf wear. Scattered staining and tanning, edges a bit worn. A very good copy.