MARITIME HISTORY - TRAVELLING -- WITSEN, N. Aeloude en hedendaegsche scheeps-bouw en bestier: Waer in wijtloopigh wert verhandelt, de wijze van Scheeps-timmeren, by Grieken en Romeynen, Scheeps-oeffeningen, Strijden, Tucht, Straffe, Wetten en gewoonten. Beneffens evenmatige grootheden van schepen onzes tijts, ontleet in alle hare deelen (...). (With) Appendix. Amst., C. Cunradus, 1671. 2 parts in 1 vol. (14), 516; 40, (4) pp. W. engr. front. by R. de Hooghe & 112 - for the greater part full-p. (1 fold.) - engr. plates after N. Witsen. Fol. Cont. blind tooled vellum, spine raised in compartments. (Spine skillfully rep., new leather ties, upper fly leaf lacks, small hole in blank margin front., sl. browned/foxed in a few places).
Extremely rare real first edition of this work, with title-page printed in black with the address of the printer (Chr. Cunradus). It is illustrated with precise and detailed plates which were executed after drawings by Witsen himself. The plates are unnumbered in this edition! Only 1 other 'proof' copy with this imprint is found in NCC (University Library of Amsterdam). The number of plates of this work differ (Landwehr also has 112 plates). This work on ship building quickly became the standard work on the subject. It made Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), who was mayor of Amsterdam thirteen times and administrator of the VOC, come in to contact with Czar Peter the Great on modernising the Imperial Russian Navy, then backward by Western European standards. His contact with the Czar led to an order for warships from Amsterdam shipyards. In 1697 Witsen organised a four-month training period for the Czar at the Dutch East India Company shipyards. - Cf. Hoogendoorn, WitsenN04; Bierens de Haan 5368; NHSM p. 743; Landwehr RdH 16; NNBW IV, 1473. Extensively on Witsen (and this work): M. Peters: De wijze koopman. Het wereldwijde onderzoek van Nicolaes Witsen (1641-1717), burgemeester en VOC-bewindhebber van Amsterdam (2010). - Inserted is a small paper with annotations in an old hand on the ship "Hilverbeek", dated 1741.€ 3600
result € 6000
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