This copper engraving is from a remarkable series of publications, illustrating voyages of discovery and travels of exploration to various parts of the world. The project was begun by Theodore de Bry of Frankfurt, in 1590 and was to continue for another 54 years. They became known collectively as the Grands Voyages (to America and the West Indies) and the Petits Voyages (to the Orient and the East Indies). De Bry died after the first six parts of the Grands Voyages were completed. The project was completed initially by his widow and two sons, Johann Theodore de Bry and Johann Israel de Bry, then by his son-in-law, Matthaus Merian in 1644.

This interesting engraving is Plate II from Part IX of de Bry's Grands Voyages and was republished in Johann Ludwig Gottfried's Newe Welt und Americanische Historien, a collection of voyages. Also known as Historia Antipodum, Gottfried's work is an abridgement of de Bry's voyages to America that incorporates much new material. Matthaus Merian, de Bry's son-in-law and publisher for Historia Antipodum, was granted access to de Bry's copper-engraved plates. The engraving depicts the various ways that the Indigenous peoples of Peru cross rivers without bridges. Methods include pulling themselves across in a basket on a line and on rafts made of plaited rushes or dried squashes. On a sheet of German text measuring 8.9 x 13.5".

References: Van Groesen (De Bry's America) p. 333.

Condition: A

A crisp impression on a sheet with minor soiling in the margins.