"[Lot of 5] Sir Frances Drake [and] Thomas Cavendish [and] Gerard Mercator [and] Johannes Gadburjus [and] Sir Roger L'Estrange",

The first two portraits in this lot are from Crispin de Passe's rare Effigies Regum ac Principum..., 1598. Both (3.7 x 5") are taken from Jodocus Hondius' rare broadside that commemorated the circumnavigations of Sir Francis Drake and Thomas Cavendish. The smaller Hondius portraits only exist in two copies (Royal Geographical Society and Huntington Library). These portraits are engraved in reverse and both include a miniature double hemisphere terrestrial map displaying the tracks of their circumnavigation. The portrait of Drake also includes a shield with a picture of his ship, the Golden Hind, under full sail. Below the portraits are Latin verses written by Matthias Quad.

The balance of the lot includes portraits of the famous cartographer Gerard Mercator, by N. L'Armessin, circa 1700, (5.3 x 7"); Johannes Gadburjus (English astrologer John Gadbury), engraved by T. Cross, from The Doctrine of Nativities, published in 1661 (5.8 x 8.8"); and a fine etching of the English pamphleteer and author Sir Roger L'Estrange, circa 1700.

References: #1 &2: King (2nd ed.) p. 35 & 43; Shirley #188.

Condition: B+

All have trimmed margins and remnants of hinges from previous framing on the versos. The portrait of Gadbury has a tape stain at top, otherwise all are very good.