Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - November - 2005 Issue

Travels and Voyages from William Reese

Maximilianus' account of Megellan's circumnavigation.

Maximilianus' account of Megellan's circumnavigation.

Item 96 is a fourth edition account from 1524 (following the first of 1523) of the first report of the Magellan expedition, the first to circumnavigate the globe. It was prepared by Maximimianus Transylvanus, who interviewed the survivors. Magellan set out in 1519 with five ships and 265 men. Only one ship and 18 men survived to make it back home. Ferdinand Megellan was not one of them. Though he is regularly credited as first to circumnavigate the Earth, the reality is that Magellan himself never made it. He was killed in a battle with natives in the Philippines. Item 96. $30,000.

It's been a long time, but the story of Fatme, a young Turkish girl, is still touching today. It is told in a 1697 letter by Paul Bodin, a Jesuit missionary, sent to his superior. Fatme was a Muslim girl who was taken in by Vmin Tousseph, an impoverished Christian woman with an abusive husband. Tousseph told Fatme that she was sustained by her faith, which inspired Fatme to convert. This infuriated her father, who had already promised Fatme in marriage. To avoid the disgrace, he hatched a plan whereby Fatme's sister would take her place. However, the existence of Fatme could spoil the plan, so he arranged to have Fatme's sister first poison her. And so it was. Fatme died in Tousseph's arms. Item 16. $7,500.

Item 122 is Woodes Rogers' A Cruising Voyage Round the World.... published in 1726. This voyage is particularly memorable for picking up Alexander Selkirk, stranded for years on Juan Fernandez Island. Selkirk's name may not be that well known, but the fictional character he inspired, Robinson Crusoe, surely is. Woodes' expedition would round Cape Horn and proceed as far north as California. The map shows California as it was believed to be at the time, an island. $3,000.

You may find the William Reese Company and its catalogues online at www.reeseco.com, or call them at 203-789-8081.

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