Details
[DRAKE, Sir FRANCIS]. BOAZIO, BAPTISTA. Five hand-colored engraved maps or view-plans made to accompany Walter Bigges and Master Croftes, A Summarie and true discourse of Sir Francis Drake's West Indian Voyage (London, 1589). Each approximately 422 x 557mm. (16 5/8 x 21 5/8in.), consisting of two sheets joined together, tipped into modern mats, green folding cloth portfolio, morocco title label on upper cover, a few small stains or smears to the Santiago plate, one partly obscuring 3 letters of a caption, a few insignificant wormholes to the Santiago and St. Augustine plates, one to two borders cropped of the Cartagena and St. Augustine plates, some slight wear to center folds, one-inch fold-break to the Santo Domingo plate.
The first engraving is a map of Drake's voyage, with the caption in English within a cartouche: "The Famouse West Indian voyadge made by the Englishe fleete of 23 shippes and Barkes wherin weare gotten the Townes of St. Iago, Sto Domingo, Cartagena and S. Augustines [sic] the same beinge begon from Plimmouth in the Moneth of September 1585 and ended at portesmouth in Iulie 1586 the whole course of the saide Viadge [sic] beinge planlie described by the pricked line Newlie come forth by Baptista Boazio." The place names are in English, and each country is decorated with its flag. The map is embellished with two large ships and a tropical fish ("Sea Connye") after John White in the foreground. The coastlines are outlined in variously colored washes, and the embellishments, compass rose and title cartouche are fully colored.
The four other engravings consist of bird's-eye views of the four towns listed in the map: Santiago in the Cape Verde (or Canary) Islands, Santo Domingo, capital of Hispaniola, Cartagena de Indias on the north coast of South America, and St. Augustine, Florida, all sites of encounters between Drake and the Spanish forces, the St. Augustine view being THE EARLIEST ENGRAVING OF ANY LOCALITY NOW PART OF THE UNITED STATES. Each of these four engravings, whose captions are in Latin within ornamental cartouches, show the English and Spanish fleets and ground forces in battle array, with letter designations corresponding to a letterpress key not present with this copy. The towns and the landscapes of the surrounding country, trees, hills and bodies of water, aÿre finely detailed. Each engraving includes a compass-rose, and is embellished with sea-monsters as well as realistic depictions of animals (a flying fish, an alligator, an iguana and a dorado fish), after drawings by John White. All are colored in full by a contemporary hand.
The history of these engravings, "probably the most interesting and important published graphic work pertaining to Drake and his career" (Kraus, Drake, no. 20) has not been fully elucidated. Two sets of the four city view-plans are known to exist, of which this is the larger. The smaller set (measuring approx. 205 x 300mm.) includes captions in Latin and French and numerical instead of alphabetical designations, but no existing key is known; it was originally issued with the Leiden 1588 editions in Latin and French of the Bigges-Crofte narrative (cf. lot 92). "There is no evidence for an earlier date for the larger engravings than 1589, when they are mentioned on the title-pages of [two of the three] English editions issued that year [STC3056.5 and 3057]. It is therefore entirely possible that the smaller engravings appeared before the larger ones; no priority can, however, be established at present." (Kraus). As for the general map, it is uncertain whether it was issued with the 1589 edition, although STC lists 3 copies in which it accompanies the book (of which one without the city maps).
STC lists 9 copies, not including this one, of the larger set of city-plans, of which four are like the duPont copy accompanied by the general map but not by a copy of the Bigges narrative. The Boies Penrose copy bears ms. signatures Oo to Ss, suggesting that the set was originally part of a "general atlas assembled for a special customer").
What is certain about the Boazio maps is their historical importance. The four city-plans represent the first printed view of each locality, and the view of St. Augustine is as stated above the earliest known engraving of any city or territory of the present United States. The five animals were engraved after drawings "by John White, Governor of the first Anglo-American settlement in America, in the Hatteras region then called Virginia (now North Carolina). The Drake raid to the West-Indies of 1585-1586 picked up the Virginia settlers and returned them to Europe. It was undoubtedly in the course of this return voyage that the author of this view-plan was able to copy the figure of the Dorado fish [and the other creatures] from White's original drawing[s]" (Kraus, no. 49). Boazio, an Italian artist residing in London, presumably obtained these copies - or the original drawings? - from a member of the expedition, along with sketches of the towns and of Drake's attacks. STC 3171.6 c.; H. P. Kraus, Sir Francis Drake, a Pictorial Biography (Amsterdam: N. Israel 1970), pp. 121-127 and nos. 20 and 49, illus.; Church 134A, 136, 138.
The first engraving is a map of Drake's voyage, with the caption in English within a cartouche: "The Famouse West Indian voyadge made by the Englishe fleete of 23 shippes and Barkes wherin weare gotten the Townes of St. Iago, Sto Domingo, Cartagena and S. Augustines [sic] the same beinge begon from Plimmouth in the Moneth of September 1585 and ended at portesmouth in Iulie 1586 the whole course of the saide Viadge [sic] beinge planlie described by the pricked line Newlie come forth by Baptista Boazio." The place names are in English, and each country is decorated with its flag. The map is embellished with two large ships and a tropical fish ("Sea Connye") after John White in the foreground. The coastlines are outlined in variously colored washes, and the embellishments, compass rose and title cartouche are fully colored.
The four other engravings consist of bird's-eye views of the four towns listed in the map: Santiago in the Cape Verde (or Canary) Islands, Santo Domingo, capital of Hispaniola, Cartagena de Indias on the north coast of South America, and St. Augustine, Florida, all sites of encounters between Drake and the Spanish forces, the St. Augustine view being THE EARLIEST ENGRAVING OF ANY LOCALITY NOW PART OF THE UNITED STATES. Each of these four engravings, whose captions are in Latin within ornamental cartouches, show the English and Spanish fleets and ground forces in battle array, with letter designations corresponding to a letterpress key not present with this copy. The towns and the landscapes of the surrounding country, trees, hills and bodies of water, aÿre finely detailed. Each engraving includes a compass-rose, and is embellished with sea-monsters as well as realistic depictions of animals (a flying fish, an alligator, an iguana and a dorado fish), after drawings by John White. All are colored in full by a contemporary hand.
The history of these engravings, "probably the most interesting and important published graphic work pertaining to Drake and his career" (Kraus, Drake, no. 20) has not been fully elucidated. Two sets of the four city view-plans are known to exist, of which this is the larger. The smaller set (measuring approx. 205 x 300mm.) includes captions in Latin and French and numerical instead of alphabetical designations, but no existing key is known; it was originally issued with the Leiden 1588 editions in Latin and French of the Bigges-Crofte narrative (cf. lot 92). "There is no evidence for an earlier date for the larger engravings than 1589, when they are mentioned on the title-pages of [two of the three] English editions issued that year [STC3056.5 and 3057]. It is therefore entirely possible that the smaller engravings appeared before the larger ones; no priority can, however, be established at present." (Kraus). As for the general map, it is uncertain whether it was issued with the 1589 edition, although STC lists 3 copies in which it accompanies the book (of which one without the city maps).
STC lists 9 copies, not including this one, of the larger set of city-plans, of which four are like the duPont copy accompanied by the general map but not by a copy of the Bigges narrative. The Boies Penrose copy bears ms. signatures Oo to Ss, suggesting that the set was originally part of a "general atlas assembled for a special customer").
What is certain about the Boazio maps is their historical importance. The four city-plans represent the first printed view of each locality, and the view of St. Augustine is as stated above the earliest known engraving of any city or territory of the present United States. The five animals were engraved after drawings "by John White, Governor of the first Anglo-American settlement in America, in the Hatteras region then called Virginia (now North Carolina). The Drake raid to the West-Indies of 1585-1586 picked up the Virginia settlers and returned them to Europe. It was undoubtedly in the course of this return voyage that the author of this view-plan was able to copy the figure of the Dorado fish [and the other creatures] from White's original drawing[s]" (Kraus, no. 49). Boazio, an Italian artist residing in London, presumably obtained these copies - or the original drawings? - from a member of the expedition, along with sketches of the towns and of Drake's attacks. STC 3171.6 c.; H. P. Kraus, Sir Francis Drake, a Pictorial Biography (Amsterdam: N. Israel 1970), pp. 121-127 and nos. 20 and 49, illus.; Church 134A, 136, 138.