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Rare Dutch edition of one of the first printed travel narratives, taking its reader to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, Tartary, India, and China. Extremely popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Mandeville's adventures were still read centuries after their first printing and were enjoyed in the 18th century as a classic of English travel literature. The Voyages de Jehan de Mandeville chevalier, which appeared in manuscript in France around 1357, purports to be the personal account of Sir John Mandeville, born in St Albans, who left England in 1322 and travelled the world, serving the sultan of Cairo and visiting the Great Khan, and finally in 1357, while ill, setting down his discoveries. It covers his travels to the Middle East and Palestine, before he continues to India, Tibet, China, Java, and Sumatra, then returns westward via Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa. The first appearance of Mandeville's Itinerarius in print was in a Dutch vernacular translation dated to around 1470 (according to Bennett) or around 1477 (according to STCN). This edition was followed shortly after by others in German, French, Italian, Latin, and more vernacular languages. Mandeville's book had a spectacular success in the Netherlands, where travel literature was - since the Middle Ages - one of the most widely read genres. In the early modern period, it was one of the favourite vernacular texts alongside Polo's Milione, and other medieval narratives such as the Rare Dutch edition of one of the first printed travel narratives, taking its reader to the Holy Land, Egypt, Turkey, Persia, Tartary, India, and China. Extremely popular during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, Mandeville's adventures were still read centuries after their first printing and were enjoyed in the 18th century as a classic of English travel literature. The Voyages de Jehan de Mandeville chevalier, which appeared in manuscript in France around 1357, purports to be the personal account of Sir John Mandeville, born in St Albans, who left England in 1322 and travelled the world, serving the sultan of Cairo and visiting the Great Khan, and finally in 1357, while ill, setting down his discoveries. It covers his travels to the Middle East and Palestine, before he continues to India, Tibet, China, Java, and Sumatra, then returns westward via Arabia, Egypt, and North Africa. The first appearance of Mandeville's Itinerarius in print was in a Dutch vernacular translation dated to around 1470 (according to Bennett) or around 1477 (according to STCN). This edition was followed shortly after by others in German, French, Italian, Latin, and more vernacular languages. Mandeville's book had a spectacular success in the Netherlands, where travel literature was - since the Middle Ages - one of the most widely read genres. In the early modern period, it was one of the favourite vernacular texts alongside Polo's Milione, and other medieval narratives such as the Itinerarius of Jean Voet and the Voyage of Master Joos van Ghistele. It was constantly reprinted, with sixteen editions published by the close of the seventeenth century. Later editions like this one show that the Dutch interest in Mandeville's discoveries never diminished, and their low survival rate is an indication of their popularity with contemporary readers. We traced one copy of this edition in auction records; an online institutional search returns five locations. This edition has a printed imprimatur at the end by the court of Brussels is dated to October 1550. The original 1550 edition was later reproduced by various printers (firstly in the 16th century, then in 1734). The present edition matches STCN 183625781, dated to the second half of the 18th century and corresponding to Bennett 19 (c. 1750). Provenance: Prof. Dr. Willy L. Braekman (1931-2006), a Belgian professor, collector, bibliophile, and author of books on Dutch history and folklore, with his bookplate on the front pastedown. READ MORE Quarto (192 x 149 mm): A-K4 ; 40 leaves, pp. 78, [2]. Modern light blue wrappers, smooth spine lettered in manuscript. Woodcut vignette on title page. Minor rubbing at extremities, contents evenly slightly browned, a little foxing to title page and last leaf, paper flaws in lower margin of leaves K3-4 causing couple of small holes (without loss of text). A very good, clean copy. Bennett, Dutch, 19; STCN 183625781. Josephine Waters Bennett, The Rediscovery of Sir John Mandeville, 1954.

Itinerarius, often known as The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, is a travel memoir recounting the journeys of the fictional Sir John Mandeville. It provides detailed descriptions of the cultures and places he visited.