Jan Huygen van Linschoten

Jan Huygen van Linschoten (Haarlem 1563 to Enkhuizen 1611) spent the years 1583 to 1588 in Goa as secretary to the Portuguese archbishop, and came home with the sailing directions, trade information and descriptions that Portugal had kept secret for a century. His Itinerario, printed by Cornelis Claesz at Amsterdam in 1596 with maps and plates, gave the Dutch the knowledge with which the first fleets sailed to the East in 1595 and the Company was founded in 1602. He also sailed with Barentsz on the first two Arctic voyages of 1594 and 1595.

The Itinerario was translated at once: into English in 1598 (John Wolfe, London, at the urging of Richard Hakluyt), into German in the same year, into Latin in 1599, and into French in 1610. Complete copies with all the maps and plates are rare in every edition.

Our collection contains the English edition of 1598.