Lot 1141: CASPAR VAN BAERLE

Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum. Amsterdam: Joan Blaeu, 1647. 2o (437 x 305mm). Title with woodcut publisher's device. Engraved frontispiece, engraved portrait of Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau by Theodore Matkam, 31 double-page engraved views after [?and by] Frans Post, many signed and some dated 1645, and 25 double-page engraved maps, mounted on guards, woodcut initials. (Some light browning and offsetting, a few guards reinforced, occasional creasing, small repair to corner of 3H). Contemporary Dutch vellum panelled in gilt with central strapwork cartouche, overstamped with superlibros of the Minim Friars of Paris on sides (ties lacking, slightly soiled). FIRST EDITION. 'ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOKS ON BRAZIL OF THIS PERIOD' (Borba de Moraes). Caspar van Baerle, or Barlaeus, one of the pre-eminent Dutch humanists of the 17th century, was commissioned by Prince Johan Maurits van Nassau (1604-1679) to record his tenure as Governor-General of the Dutch East India Company's possessions in Brazil from 1637 to 1644. The resulting work comprises an important history of Prince Johan Maurits's governorship of Pernambuco and description of the Dutch colonies and settlements in Brazil. Baerle gathered information from the Governor-General himself and from other Europeans who had been in Brazil such as Gaspar Dias Ferreira. The fine views are engraved after the paintings of Frans Post (c.1612-80), the Dutch landscape painter, who was amongst Prince Johan Maurits's retinue. Post spent seven years in Brazil, and his vivid depictions of the scenery of New World were the first to be produced by a European painter. The plates record the Brazilian scenery, natives and natural history. Borba de Moraes (1983), p.78; Sabin 3408 (calling for 55 plates only). PROVENANCE Paris, Convent of the Minim Friars (binding, 17th-century title inscription). Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 20 October 1988, lot 238 (to Dreesmann). Dr Anton C.R. Dreesmann (inventory no. Y-11).