LA PEYRÈRE, Isaac de (1594-1676). Relation du Groenland. Paris: Chez Augustin Courbé, 1647. FIRST EDITION.
8vo (168 x 104 mm). Engraved folding map, one engraved folding plate; errata leaf. (Some light overall browning.) Contemporary mottled calf (a few repairs to joints and spine, minor wear to covers).FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST WORK TO DEAL EXTENSIVELY WITH GREENLAND. The first half of La Peyrre's work details the early Icelandic and Danish Arctic chronicles, on the seas, ice, fish, mammals and Greenlanders. The second half describes Jens Munk's 1619-1620 voyage, made at the command of the King of Denmark and Norway to find a Northwest Passage for the Dutch East India Company, which would offer secure passage against the English following Henry Hudson's last voyage of 1611. Munk's voyage dispelled the belief that Greenland was contiguous with the continent of America; he passed through Hudson's Strait and sailed west as far as the mouth of the Churchill River where he wintered (and where the wreck of his second ship was discovered by Christopher Middleton in 1742). Of the 64 men that embarked on the voyage, only Munk and 2 sailors survived the winter and manged to return to Norway in the smaller ship in September, 1620. Their horrific experiences dissuaded any sailors from signing on for a further Danish exploratory voyage into Hudson's Bay. Sabin 38970.
