"Historia navigationis in Brasiliam, quae et America Dicitur"

-Jean De Lery

-First Latin Edition of 1586 (First French edition published in 1578)

-341 pages plus index (complete text)

-7 plates in text. Folding plate supplied in facsimile

-Contemporary vellum with yapp edges. Front cover weakening.

This celebrated work is one of the earliest to describe the Tupinamba peoples of South America. The woodcuts were first included in the 1580 French edition and are here expanded.

Lery took part in Villegagnon's failed expedition to found a French colony in Brazil - "France Antarctique".  This Protestant expedition had set out to escape the French wars of Religion. The colony was founded in present day Rio de Janeiro and Lery spent time exploring the local area. He gives an accurate description of the flora and fauna of the region, but the book is best known for its sympathetic description of the Tupinamba peoples. This is one of the most important early descriptions before increasing European interaction changed their way of life. He records the Tupinamba in engaged in war and cannibalism - which was controversial in Europe on his return. The description greatly influenced later French writers including Levi-Strauss and is still used by modern day anthropologists.  Of importance, this edition is one of the first to include notation of Tupinamba music in the text.