Rerum per octennium in Brasilia et alibi nuper gestarum, Sub Praefectura Illustrissimi Comitis I. Mauritii, Nassoviae, (…) Historia.

(12) 340 (8) p. Engraved dedication, portrait, 58 double-page maps, plans and views, contemporary calf, repaired spine with later red morocco title. First edition.

Commissioned by Johan Maurits van Nassau (governor of Brazil between 1636-1644 and founder of “Mauritsstad” (present-day Recife)) and illustrated with sumptuous maps and views mainly by Frans Post, this work has become both the main source on the history of the Dutch in Brazil as well as one of the most beautifully illustrated antiquarian works on the country. Both Frans Post and the German astronomer/ naturalist/ surveyor Georg Marggraf were commissioned by Maurits van Nassau to document Brazil visually, geographically and scientifically during their stay in Brazil. “(…)

This is the folio edition, coveted by collectors over the small and far more common 8vo edition. Due to its sumptuousness and inestimable documentary value, it has been much sought after. The images are mostly the work of Frans Janszoon Post (1618–1680), the first European artist to paint the New World. Post was in Brazil at the same time as Maurits, and his images — disseminated through these engravings, executed by Jan van Brosterhuisen and Salomon Savery — defined Europe’s vision of the exotic lands of South America. Georg Marcgraf, along with the publishers Willem and Joan Blaeu, contributed the maps. Eventually Marcgraf would issue the four sectional maps of Brazil into a large and influential wall-map. “One of the most beautiful books on Brazil of this period” and of “inestimable documentary value” (Borba de Moraes). Barlaeus (1584-1648), or Caspar van Baerle, was a poet, writer, and one of the great 17th-century Dutch humanists. He was commissioned to write an account of the on the government of Maurits van Nassau, Governor-General of Dutch Brazil from 1637-1644, in Pernambuco by the Prince himself. The book is a significant account of the influential, however short-lived, Dutch colonial empire in Brazil, considered by Sabin to be a “magnificent work” and a great rarity due to a fire that consumed much of Blaeu’s stock.

The maps and views were the main European reference source of the Brazilian landscape for 160 years. “… Barlaeus interwove passages about Johan Maurits´s actions as governor with descriptions of the geography, the flora and fauna, the population and the sugar plantations in the colony. His history painted a picture of a colonial administration that endeavored to be fair to everyone. Johan Maurits and his fellow governors appeased the Portuguese and the other population groups by means of a carefully-weighed balance of military presence and measures aimed at promoting prosperity and cooperation. They maintained sufficient troops to suppress any rebellion that might threaten. They protected the Indians in the colony from slavery in another guise, placed them under the authority of their own village elders and recruited them as auxiliary forces by rewarding them appropriately. They made allies of savage, cannibal Indians from the outlying areas and tried to civilize them. By promoting economic recovery, Johan Maurits and his fellow administrators did the whole population, including the black slaves, a service. They stopped the extortion of plantation owners by local commanders and restored peace and order to rural areas. They protected the inhabitants against the Portuguese incursions from Bahia and against raids by marauding Maroons in southern Pernambuco. By resuming the import of slaves and by selling on credit they ensured that the worforces on the plantations grew and sugar production increased. They promoted regulated free trade between the colony and the Netherlands to replace the WIC monopoly. This created the opportunity to establish fair prices for Brazilian exports and European imports and encouraged trade with the home country.

Barlaeus consequently concluded his history with praise for the governor…” (Van den Boogaart, Ernst. “A Well-Governed Colony: Frans Posts Illustrations in Caspar Barlaeuss History of Dutch Brazil.” The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59, no. 3 (2011): 236-71, p.238-239). Johan Maurits (Maurice) of Orange, Count and eventually Prince of Nassau-Siegen (1604–1679), distinguished himself as a military commander on behalf of the Dutch West Indies Company (WIC) in Brazil. He was governor-general from 1636 to 1644 and fought almost constantly against the Spanish-Portuguese forces to defend and expand Dutch holdings in South America and, eventually, in Africa (to re-open the transport of enslaved people to the Americas). The Dutch would come to sell Brazil to the Portuguese in 1661, and so Maurits’s governorship represents the high-water mark of their power in the Americas. “Mit der Unterstützung von Johann Moritz von Nassau-Siegen und zu seiner Rechtfertigung gegen die ungerechten Angriffe der Westindischen Kompagnie über seine Verwaltung der nordbrasilianischen Kolonie entstand dieses Werk des Amsterdamer Gelehrten Barlaeus, das auf Grund des benutzten dokumentarischen Materials zu den wichtigsten Quellen über diese Epoche gilt und darüber hinaus durch die Illustrationen von Frans Post zu den schönsten und wertvollsten Druckwerken über Brasilien im 17. Jahrhundert gehört. Es verzeichnet die großartigen Leistungen, die Moritz von Nassau in seiner kurzen Regierungszeit als “Gouverneur-Capiteynende Admirael-Generael ” in Pernambuco erbracht hat.” (Bosch 101).

Condition: It lacks the title page (supplied in facsimilé); maps/ plates are occasionally slightly foxed or yellowed (a few maps are as usual yellowed or browned, notably “Incendia Molarum,” the map of Chili); and a view of Dillenburg with a small (restored) hole on the central fold in the sky area. The covers are slightly rubbed. Literature: Alden 647.9; Borba de Moraes, p 78; Sabin 3408; STCN 852284292; cf. Van den Boogaart, Ernst. “A Well-Governed Colony: Frans Posts Illustrations in Caspar Barlaeuss History of Dutch Brazil.” The Rijksmuseum Bulletin 59, no. 3 (2011): 236-71, p.238-239.