“verso il Catai, e Regno de Sini, dove scopersero il Mare di Veygatz, la Nuova Zembla (etc.). Descritte in Latino, e nuovamente da G. G. Parisio tradotte nella lingua Italiana”.

Small 4to, contemporary full limp vellum. Preface (last leaf with the compass rose lacking as more often). 79 leaves (but last text leaf lacking) with all 31 -tinted- engravings. Traces of use and age. Title page repaired and doubled. One leaf with tear. Still a reasonable good copy.

Translation of "Waerachtighe beschryvinghe van drie seylagien" 1598. This work contains an account of three early Dutch voyages for the discovery of the North East passage to China and Cathay, and contains valuable early particulars regarding Nova Zembla, and Northern Siberia. The famous Dutchman William Barentsz sailed along that coast and various other Dutch expeditions sought to discover a new route to the East Indies by way of the North-East Passage. Spain had control of the route round South America, and Portugal controlled the route round South Africa and for expeditions of other nations, notably the English and Dutch, to attempt these routes usually meant fighting the Spanish and Portuguese, and the probable loss of part or all these fruits of their trading, consequently the discovery of another route to the East would have been of the greatest value to them. The third voyage of 1596-1597, which occupies most of the book, is one of the greatest in the history of polar exploration, during which the company was forced to make the first recorded overwintering this far north after their ship was crushed. In the spring of 1597 the survivors in open boats sailed and sledged 1600 miles around the northern cape, down the length of Novaya Zemlya, and out across the White Sea to safety on the Kola Peninsula.