A beautifully produced colour facsimile reproducing one of the finest surviving illustrated records of the sixteenth-century Caribbean, faithfully presenting the celebrated manuscript preserved in the Morgan Library & Museum.

Bibliographic Details

Author: Anonymous sixteenth-century manuscript. English translation by Ruth S. Kraemer, with an introduction by Verlyn Klinkenborg, foreword by Patrick O'Brian and preface by Charles E. Pierce Jr.
Title: Histoire naturelle des Indes / The Drake Manuscript in The Pierpont Morgan Library.
Place of Publication: London & New York.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company.
Date / Edition: 1996.
Pagination: xxii, [2], 272 pages.
Illustrations: Colour illustrations throughout, faithfully reproducing every page of the original illuminated manuscript.
Binding: Publisher's bottle-green cloth with gilt lettering to spine, complete with the original colour dust jacket.
Size: 4to (30.5 × 20.7 cm).

Condition

Near Fine to Very Good. A particularly well-preserved example with only minor signs of handling. The binding remains firm and attractive, while the contents are fresh, bright and clean throughout. Jacket with minor creasing. Please ask if you require a more detailed condition report, or examine the gallery photographs closely.

Description

A handsome scholarly edition reproducing in magnificent detail the celebrated Drake Manuscript, one of the most important surviving illustrated records of the early Caribbean. Preserved today in the Morgan Library & Museum, the manuscript offers an extraordinary visual survey of the natural world encountered during the earliest decades of European exploration in the Americas.

Created during the closing years of the sixteenth century, the manuscript records an astonishing variety of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, fish and indigenous peoples of the Caribbean. Richly illuminated throughout, it stands among the earliest and most significant pictorial documents of the region, combining artistic accomplishment with observations of lasting historical and scientific importance.

Although long associated with Sir Francis Drake through its later provenance, modern scholarship regards the manuscript as a remarkable product of the early colonial world rather than Drake's personal work. Its illustrations preserve invaluable evidence of the flora, fauna and cultures encountered by Europeans at a pivotal moment in the history of transatlantic exploration.

This edition presents the manuscript in superb full-colour facsimile, allowing every page to be studied in remarkable fidelity. The high-quality reproductions successfully convey both the vibrancy of the original artwork and the subtle details of its illumination, making the volume an indispensable reference for historians, collectors and researchers alike.

The accompanying scholarly apparatus places the manuscript within its wider historical and cultural context, examining its creation, artistic significance and importance to the study of Caribbean natural history, early colonial encounters and Renaissance scientific observation.

Combining authoritative scholarship with exceptional production quality, this volume remains the standard modern edition of one of the great illustrated treasures of the early Americas. It will appeal equally to collectors of exploration, natural history, manuscript illumination and the history of science.

Notes

An excellent colour facsimile of one of the most celebrated illustrated manuscripts relating to the early Caribbean, faithfully reproducing a landmark document of exploration and natural history.

Particularly desirable for collectors of exploration, colonial America, Caribbean history, botanical illustration, zoology, illuminated manuscripts, natural history, cartography and the history of science.