Lot 244: HUDSON, Henry (d. 1611), et al. -- Hessel GERRITSZ (ca 1581-1632), editor. Descriptio ac

HUDSON, Henry (d. 1611), et al. -- Hessel GERRITSZ (ca 1581-1632), editor. Descriptio ac delineatio geographica detectionis freti, sive, transitus ad Occusum, supra terras Americanas, in Chinam atq; Iaponem ducturi. Amsterdam: Ex officina Hessel Gerritsz, 1612.

4 o (197 x 154 mm). 24 (of 25 leaves; without first blank). Three engraved folding maps (map of Hudson's Bay with two tiny holes), woodcut of a ship on verso of title, woodcut of a reindeer-drawn sleigh on verso of C3. Late 19th-century blue morocco, red morocco doublures, edges gilt, by W. Pratt for Henry Stevens.

THE FIRST PRINTED ACCOUNT OF HENRY HUDSON'S DISCOVERIES IN THE NORTHERN PART OF AMERICA AND THE FIRST MAP OF HUDSON BAY

FIRST LATIN EDITION, first issue (the second issue had a variant title-page). The Dutch edition, entitled Beschryvinge van der Samoyeden landt in Tatierien, was published the same year and included the three maps here: the first of Hudson's Bay and adjacent territory, printed on two sheets; the second a double hemispheric map (second state, with "N. Albion" inserted in California and the Pacific coast extended north to the Strait of Anian); and the third of the northern part of Russia. The two leaves of Hudson's relation are bound after signature A, apparently matching the collation of the John Carter Brown copy not after the title-page as in the Church copy.

Hudson's narrative describes his third and fourth voyages in search of a Northwest Passage. He had arrived in Arctic waters in 1610 determined to find the passage, and towards that end explored Hudson Bay. His crew mutinied and abandoned him in 1611, after which he returned to England. The text also prints the report of Fernandez de Quiros on his discovery of Terra Australis and that of Issac Massa on the countries to the north of Russia. The world map first appeared in Manoel de Figueiredo's Roteiro e Navegacao das Indias Occidentais Ithas, Lisbon, 1609).

VERY RARE, ESPECIALLY IN GOOD CONDITION: The last copy sold at auction (save an imperfect copy with most of the Hudson's Bay map in facsimile) Sotheby's New York, 2 February 1985, lot 54; that copy had dampstaining and worming and the Hudson's Bay map had several separations along the folds. No copies of the Dutch edition of the same year are recorded in American Book Prices Current. Alden/Landis 612/54; Brunet III:358; Church 354 (also lacking A1); JCB (3) II:83; Sabin 33490; Shirley 278 ("In spite of its small size, [the world] map has been carefully drafted to incorporate the latest discoveries. There are notes on it relating to Hudson's discoveries in the northern parts of America and De Quiros' explorations in the Pacific... Hudson's Bay is delineated for the first time...").

ANOTHER PROPERTY