This lot includes two engravings showing the ambush of the French on Ambon Island, in the Moluccas. The first engraving, Delineatio Eorum, quae Gallis Quibusdam in Regione Annabon Acciderunt (7.3 x 5.5"), was published by Johann Theodore and Johann Israel de Bry in the sole Latin edition of Petits Voyages, Part VII. It comes from the account of Joris van Spilbergen's voyage to Sri Lanka from 1601-04. The engraving shows French Catholics stopping off on Ambon to pray and then being attacked by the Portuguese, who apparently believed the French were there to take the island. 17 items of interest are keyed to the text to make the narrative legible and to identify certain items of interest, such as the Indigenous people's rafts and canoes and various trees native to the island. On a sheet of Latin text measuring 7.7 x 11.3". The second engraving, Anabon (8.8 x 5.6"), appeared in Isaac Commelin's Begin ende Voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie (1646), a compendium of voyages. It is essentially a mirror image of the de Bry engraving, with the addition of the coat of arms of Balthazar de Moucheron, the sponsor of van Spilbergen's expedition, at top right. "No. 3" at bottom right.

References: Church #216.

Condition:

The first engraving is a sharp impression with light soiling that is almost entirely outside the engraved image. (A) The second engraving is on a sheet with a fleur-de-lis watermark. It is lightly toned with minor dampstaining. (B+)