Itinerarium Hierosolymitanum et Syriacum by Ioanne Cotovico (Johannes Cotovicus). Antwerp: Hieronymous Verdussen, 1619. Latin. Two parts in one volume. First edition.
Account of a journey by Johannes Cotovicus, Doctor of Laws in Utrecht University, to Jerusalem and Syria (through Crete and Cyprus).
The book is accompanied by three engraved plates and more than 50 engravings incorporated into the text (maps, views and plans). Among them are engravings depicting Jerusalem (view of the city, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Mount of Olives, and more), Jaffa, Rhodes, Cyprus, and other sites.
A fine copy, with wide margins. Comments written by hand appear on the margins and on endpapers. On the first title page appears a handwritten signature: "Grosley". Apparently the comments and signature were handwritten by the French historian and author Pierre-Jean Grosley (1718-1785).
[15] leaves, 518 pp, [9] leaves + [3] plates, 24.5 cm. Lacking [5] folding plates at the end of the book. Good overall condition. Stains. Two of the engraved plates are trimmed (cut at top and bottom margins; around the engraving). Original vellum binding (slightly damaged).
Provenance: Collection of Hermann Meyer and his daughter Channah Sapir.