Description
copper engraving view from ‘Neue Welt und Amerikanische Historien’ pp.477/478(verso).
An EXTREMELY RARE, historically significant and one of the earliest views of Manila Bay showing the fleet of Admiral Joris van Spilberghen of the Dutch VOC & a smoking Taal rendered as a Bird’s eye view of City and Bay (Manila). The account of Spilberghen’s circumnavigation was included in Theodor Johann de Bry’s ‘Grosse Reisen’ Part XI, (Appendix Americae, section XVI) (‘Grand Voyages’) ; it documented the historic entry of Spilberghen in Philippine waters, eventually anchoring near Manila February and March 1616.
In 1631, Matthäus Merian and Johann Ludwig Gottfried published ‘Historia Antipodum’, a heavily abridged, single-volume version of Theodor de Bry’s 14-part America series. After de Bry’s death, his sons continued the project. Merian, a skilled engraver, later married de Bry’s daughter and collaborated with Gottfriedt. The ‘Historia Antipodum’ reorganized numerous travel accounts into three chapters covering nature, exploration, and recent colonial developments. Merian and Gottfriedt significantly reworked the content, merging reports and integrating illustrations into the text.
