GIOVANNI BATTISTA RAMUSIO (1485-1557)

GIOVANNI BATTISTA RAMUSIO (1485-1557)
Delle navigationi et viaggi raccolte da M.Gio.Battista Ramusio, in tre volumi divise. Venice: Giunta, 1606. 3 volumes, 2° (315 x 210mm.) 10 double-page plates or maps (7 woodcut, 3 engraved), woodcut maps, plans and illustrations in the text. (Vol.I of title slightly soiled and creased, vol.II the last leaves with some old dampstaining, vol.III f.430 repaired). Old mottled calf, spines gilt (neat repairs to spines).

PROVENANCE:
St.Benedict's Abbey (Fort Augustus, Scotland, bookplates).

A FINE SET OF A LATE EDITION OF 'A COLLECTION OF UNIQUE VALUE' (Penrose p.406). This work was first published between 1550 and 1559. There were various subsequent editions, all of which had additions made to them. The present set therefore contains the fullest possible text, since vols. II and III are the last editions, and nothing was added to the 1613 edition of vol. I. Hill's comments on the first edition of vol.I are equally applicable here: 'This is one of the earliest and most important collections of voyages and travels and may be said to have opened a new era in the literary history of voyages and navigation. This work... was the first great systematic collection that had so far appeared.' (Hill p.247). The first volume is devoted for the most part to Africa and southern Asia. The second is concerned with Central Asia, Russia, and the Northern Seas, whilst the third is purely of American interest. Aldon 606/86-8; Sabin 67734; 67739; 67742; see G.B.Parks "The contents and sources of Ramusio's Navigationi", Bulletin of the New York Public Library, 59, 1955, pp.279-313. (3)