Very rare first edition (1565) – virtually unacquirable for the past half century or more – of the first printed work devoted to the botanical and medicinal discoveries made in the Americas, a treatise which, through its later expansions and numerous translations, would remain “for many years the most important... More about Dos libros. El uno trata de todas las cosas q(ue) trae(n) de n(uest)ras Indias Occide(n)tales,...

Rare first edition of the naturalist Charles de l’Ecluse’s (Carolus Clusius; 1526-1609) botany of Sir Francis Drake’s 1577-80 circumnavigation (the first by an Englishman), the first printed book in botanical literature to be substantially based on a specific trans-Atlantic voyage of any kind, and indeed the first substantial record of..... More about Aliquot notae in Garciae aromatum historiam

Important 16th century manuscript of colonial ordinances governing the daily life of the Indian population, written in Paraguay, signed and dated 1598 by the colonial governor. Hernandarias (1561-1634). Hernandarias was the first person born in the Americas to become governor of a European colony in the New World.The manuscript is... More about

First English edition of this eyewitness anthropological account of the Americas, chiefly Inca Peru and Aztec Mesoamerica, by the Jeusit father José de Acosta, “a more thoughtful and a more thorough account of the Indian world than anything then available” (Pagden). Acosta’s crowning achievement in the present volume is his..... More about The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies. Written in Spanish… and...

Rare first edition of the fourteenth part of Hulsius's voyage anthology, a translation into German of Captain John Smith's Description of New England (London, 1616; Church 369), which includes an early copy of Smith's map of New England. Goodspeed (1927) claims that this part of Hulsius's Sammlung von Sechs und... More about Viertzehende Schiffart, Oder Gr'he vnd warhaffte Beschreibung desz Neuwen Engellandts einer...

The title in Asher’s English translation is: Considerations and reasons of the noble Directors of the Chartered West-India Company, delivered in the assembly of their High Might. the States General of these Free United Netherlands, on the present deliberations on a Truce with the King of Spain. With Conscientious Reflections..... More about Consideratien ende redenen der e. heeren bewind-hebberen vande geoctrojeerde West-Indische...

Scarce second, much augmented edition (first 1664) of this early tract on New York. The author answers the charge by the Dutch of instigating war with England, as a result of which New Amsterdam was retained by the latter. The original edition was a pamphlet of 21 pages; the present... More about A Discourse written by Sir George Downing, The King of Great Britain's Envoy Extraordinary to the...

First Dutch edition of the “first and most important” of Hennepin’s writings (Howes), translated from the 1683 French original, Description de la Louisiane, and here augmented by Denys’ description of New France, BOTH ILLUSTRATED WITH NEW PLATES. This, Hennepin’s first published work, is notable for being the earliest printed account..... More about Beschryving van Louisania, Nieuwelijks ontdekt ten Zuid-Westen van Nieuw-Vrankryk, door order van...

Rare first edition of the funeral-book of Maria Barbara of Portugal, Queen-consort of Spain and wife of Ferdinand VI, with a large folding plate of her catafalque. As with many books of exequies for European monarchs printed in America, the volume appeared over a year after the Queen’s death in..... More about Relacion Funebre de las Reales Exequias …de la Serenissima Magestad…La Señora Doña Maria...

Two rare folio-size maritime insurance policies from 1770s Marseille relating to mercantile voyages to France’s American colonies in the Caribbean, and valuable witnesses to the more practical, bureaucratic aspects of maritime trade in late 18th-century France. Each document is illustrated with the three large woodcut seals of the city and..... More about Au nom de Dieu et de la S(ain)te Vierge, que Dieu conduise le tout a bon sauvement

First edition of this comprehensive account of the American War of Independence, as seen from the French perspective. According to Howes, Leboucher’s account is the “best French chronicle of the American Revolution, [and] particularly valuable on naval affairs”; it includes lists of French battle casualties, vessels captured or destroyed, and..... More about Histoire de la dernière guerre, entre la Grande Bretagne et les Etats Unis de l’Amerique, la...

Second edition, appearing the same year as the first, of this eye-witness account of missionary work in the American south. In 1793, Stephen Theodore Badin, a native of Orleans, became the first priest ordained in the United States by the Catholic church. A short while later he was appointed a.... More about Origine et Progrde la Mission du Kentucky, (Etats-Unis d'Amerique); par un Temoin Oculaire

First edition of this reply to the Memoir which Robert Greenhow prepared for the Department of State and published in 1840 (cf. Graff 1653), presenting the claims of the United States to the Oregon Territory. “The writer of the following disquisition... proposes to shew, from materials furnished by the Americans... More about The Claims To The Oregon Territory considered