Atkinson 444; Brunet, Supl. I, 920 (citing only the second edition); cf. also Denys Lombard, \u201cMartin de Vitr\u00e9. Premier Breton \u00e0 Aceh (1601-1603),\u201d Archipel 54: 3-12 (1997).<\/i><\/p>\n
Extremely rare first edition of the first French account of the East Indies to appear in print.<\/span><\/p>\n The work is that of the French adventurer Fran\u00e7ois Martin de Vitr\u00e9 (c. 1575-c. 1631), who, upon his return to Brittany from the East Indies in 1603, prepared this lively account at the behest of King Henry IV (1553-1610). Martin\u2019s narrative inspired Henry in 1604 to establish the first iteration of the French East India Company (Compagnie des Indes Orientales<\/i>) with designs on exploiting the treasures described in the present work (cf. Lombard, \u201cMartin de Vitr\u00e9, Premier Breton \u00e0 Aceh\u201d).<\/p>\n Likely enlisted as ship\u2019s surgeon aboard the Croissant<\/i>, Fran\u00e7ois Martin of Vitr\u00e9, along with several companions from Saint-Malo and Laval, sailed from Britanny in 1601, rounding the Cape of Good Hope in May of that year. The Croissant<\/i>\u2019s companion ship, the Corbin<\/i>, wrecked in the Maldives, but Martin eventually succeeded in reaching Ceylon and trading with the Aceh in Sumatra. Upon his return journey he was captured by the Dutch at Cape Finisterre but finally returned to France in 1603. In his preface Martin summarizes the European powers\u2019 incursions in the East and laments the tardiness of the French to exploit the region\u2019s riches: \u201cThis has made me deplore the defect of the French, who more than any other nation are provided with a vivacity of spirit and a formidable worthiness, but who have nevertheless languished for so long in a slumber of idleness, ignoring information on the treasures of the East Indies with which the Portuguese and Spanish have enriched themselves\u201d<\/i> (p. 3).<\/p>\n In the first two sections of the work Martin gives ample space to the discussion of flora, fauna, and commercial matters relevant the regions he visits (aromatic plants, spices, crops, the elephant, rhinoceros and tiger, the crocodile, tortoise and bird of paradise, livestock, the hunt, woods, weights and measures, currency, etc.), but he also includes a great deal of anthropological detail. Evidently the stereotypical red-blooded Breton seafarer, Martin, in his chapter on the \u201chabits and customs we observed during our stay in the Indies\u201d (pp. 38-66) dwells mainly on women \u2013 the prostitution of premarital women, their perfumes, their bathing rituals, their medicines, and their punishment for adultery. He also notes gestures of salutation (two hands together before one\u2019s forehead), marriage customs (\u201cthey can marry seven wives if they have the means to support them\u201d), and gives detailed reports on the traditions and inner workings of both Hinduism and Islam. He notes Turkish merchants to be frequent visitors to these lands and writes of seeing a cannon of Chinese manufacture. Martin\u2019s intriguing 4-page dictionary of words useful for the traveler includes a section on counting in Malagasy, the language of Madagascar. The volume also contains a brief but significant \u201cdictionary\u201d of the Malay language, described here as \u201cElegant and easy to learn, like Latin\u201d (\u201cfort beau & facile a aprendre \u2026 comme le latin en leurope<\/i>\u201d). <\/p>\n Finally, in his presumed role as ship\u2019s surgeon, Martin penned a third section treating scurvy, recommending among other cures the use of citrus fruits and an aqueous preparation of alum.<\/p>\n As is evident from the title page, Martin fully believed himself to have been the first Frenchman to reach the East Indies, and it is likely that his countrymen believed this, too. A prefatory ode celebrating Martin\u2019s voyage (\u2018Sur la Navigation du Sieur Fran\u00e7ois Martin de Vitr\u00e9\u2019<\/i>), penned by a certain \u2018Madamoyselle de Beau-Lieu,\u2019 affirms Martin\u2019s priority. This suggests that the (unpublished) East Indies voyage of the brothers Parmentier in 1529 had long been forgotten in France by the time of Martin\u2019s expedition. A sonnet at the end of the volume signed \u2018De Fontenay\u2019 we presume to have been written by one of the most important and outspoken French humanists of his day, Nicolas Rapin, S\u00e9n\u00e9chal de Fontenay (1535-1608), who concludes his tribute with a prediction of Martin\u2019s lasting fame: \u2018il aura donc un nom durable en l\u2019Univers<\/i>\u2019.<\/p>\n OCLC lists only two copies in the United States of this first edition of 1604: at the NYPL and at the James Ford Bell Library in Minnesota (missing two preliminary pages). The work was reprinted in 1609, and for this second edition, OCLC lists American copies only at Harvard and the Boston Athenaeum.<\/p>\n Signature I is slightly damaged. A magnificent, perfectly preserved copy of this extremely rare book.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 8vo (168 x 105 mm), (4) ff., 134 (i.e. 131) pp. Soft ivory-coloured vellum of the period.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":90376,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[552],"product_tag":[590,1450,1384,620],"class_list":{"0":"post-90387","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-travel","7":"product_tag-botanical","8":"product_tag-first-edition","9":"product_tag-india","10":"product_tag-travel","11":"pa_auteur-martin-de-vitre-francois-2","12":"pa_type-de-livre-printed-book","14":"first","15":"instock","16":"shipping-taxable","17":"purchasable","18":"product-type-simple"},"acf":{"artist":"Fran\u00e7ois MARTIN DE VITR\u00c9","chapeau":"The first French eyewitness account of the East Indies","adresse_bibliographique":"Paris, Laurens Sonnius, 1604","book_type":"Printed book","provenance":"","afficher_prix":"oui"},"yoast_head":"\n