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Loading... Histoire Naturelle Des Indes: The Drake Manuscript in the Pierpont Morgan Libraryby Ruth Kraemer
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. A beautiful book! Kudos to the editors and the J. P. Morgan Library, because they have reproduced the images of an enigmatic manuscript wonderfully. The text is decent, could have been a bit more scholarly, but O'Brian's introduction is crisp, lively, and wonderful. An excellent book, if you can find it at a nice price. Did some French Protestants with Sir Francis Drake pen this contribution to sixteenth century natural history? It seems so, as it conforms to the artistic and scientific conventions of the day. ( ) no reviews | add a review
In 1983, The Pierpont Morgan Library received, as the bequest of Clara S. Peck, an extraordinary volume whose beautiful paintings and descriptions document the plant, animal, and human life of the Caribbean late in the sixteenth century. Spaniards had already begun to exert influence over the indigenous people of the area when explorers from England and France arrived, among them Sir Francis Drake. The book, known as "The Drake Manuscript," and titled Histoire Naturelle des Indes when it was bound in the eighteenth century, gives us a wonderful picture of daily life at the time of Drake's many visits to the region. Although Drake's connection to the manuscript is uncertain, he is mentioned on more than one occasion by the authors. Drake himself is known to have painted, but none of his work survives.
The work presented, here in full facsimile for the first time, is from the hands of two or more artists, most likely French, and the descriptions are French as well. Patrick O'Brian gives us a fascinating account of Drake the voyager. And in Verlyn Klinkenborg's introduction to the facsimile, we are given the background necessary to appreciate this magnificent manuscript to its fullest extent. Charles E. Pierce, Jr.'s preface and Ruth Kraemer's translations of the text round out this rich, beautiful, and historically invaluable book. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)508.729Natural sciences and mathematics General Science Natural historyLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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