Civil and corrupt Asia : images and text in the Itinerario and the Icones of Jan Huygen van Linschoten
"Jan Huygen van Linschoten (1562-1611) was a Dutchman who, in 1596, penned the famous Itinerario, an account of his journey to the Indian peninsula and its eastern surroundings that described the inhabitants of this vast region and quickly became a travel guide for everyone going there. It also became a classic in the history of European expansion. In 1604 he published an abridged version of his book, which contained thirty-six of the engravings from the Itinerario together with Latin captions." "This very rare edition was hardly known to anyone for many years. Civil and Corrupt Asia reproduces these engravings and their extensive captions in English, together with an analysis by historian Ernst van den Boogaart. He unravels the hidden meaning of the prints, explaining what the posture and dress of depicted individuals, and the details of larger scenes, were intended to convey to the knowledgeable reader of the seventeenth century. In addition to providing valuable depictions of peoples, customs, and flora and fauna of late sixteenth-century India, the engravings provide unparalleled insights into the inventiveness of early modern Dutch print culture by offering readers a means of coping intelligently with new information about strange customs."--BOOK JACKET
Print Book, English, ©2003
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, ©2003