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All the
antique engravings shown on this web-site are from a remarkable series
of publications, illustrating voyages of discovery and travels of
exploration to various parts of the world. The project was begun by a
copperplate engraver, Theodore de Bry of Frankfurt, in 1590 and was to
continue for another 54 years. These publications eventually totalled 57
separate parts, containing over 500 different copperplate
engravings.
They became known collectively as the Grands and Petits
Voyages. The
Grands Voyages dealt principally with the voyages of discovery and
travels of exploration to America, whereas the Petits Voyages, which
were in a slightly smaller format, dealt with those voyages of discovery
and travels of exploration, principally to other parts of the world. De
Bry died after the first seven parts of the Grands Voyages and
after the first part of the Petits Voyages had appeared
in print but the copperplate engravings were to be continued initially
by his two sons, Johann Theodore de Bry and Johann Israel de Bry, then
by his grand son-in-law, Mattheüs Merian.
All the de Bry prints illustrated here are of great importance,
not only as historical documents but also because they were among
the first copperplate engravings ever published to illustrate early
voyages of discovery, and travels of exploration. This, therefore,
is a rare opportunity for the viewer to purchase 400 year-old examples
of these small folio sheets. They each contain a de Bry copperplate
engraving illustrating events in the early voyages of discovery,
or travels of exploration, along with its title above and descriptive
text, either in Latin or German, see below.
To
learn more about the life and work of Theodore deBry, click
here
For ease of viewing, the copperplate engravings have been grouped into
the geographical categories shown in blue to the left of this text.
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