BREYDENBACH, BERNHARD VON.

PEREGRINATIONES. E. REUWIDH, MAINZ 1486.

      Chancery folio (305 x 225mm.), 164 leaves [a b6 c2+2+2+2 d e2 f-h2+2 i-u8 x10 y2+2+2 z A8], 44 lines variable, woodcut frontispiece, 7 folding topographical views, woodcuts in text, modern calf gilt, a fine copy with distinguished provenance. Provenance: I. C. Inglis (bookplabel); II. Boies Penrose (bookplates) and with note by Penrose stating that thiss volume accompanied him on his own peregrination in 1927. FIRST EDITION, WITH THE CELEBRATED WOODCUT VIEWS, THE FIRST OF THEIR KIND EVER PUBLISHED. The large folding views show Venice, Parenzo, Corfu, Modon, Candia, Rhodes and Jerusalem; there are as well many woodcut illustrations in the text, including the first depiction of a giraffe, and for the first time, Arab and Armenian alphabets. Breydenbach and his companions left Oppenheim on April 25, 1483, and went straight to Venice. There they bargained for passage on a galley, sailed on June 1st and arrived at Jaffa on June 30th, having touched at several Mediterranean islands which are fully described. They travelled through Palestine and Egypt, setting sail homeward from Alexandria on November 15th. They encountered a storm on the homeward passage, and did not reach Venice until January 8, 1484. HC *3956; GW 5075; BMC i 43; Bodleian XVc. B-552; BSB-Ink B909; Goff B1189; Schreiber V 3628; Davies 1; Campbell, Maps 65