Period

16th Century

Featured Items

Detail of a printed book shows a circular illustration and text in Spanish.

Suma de geographia...

Martin Fernandez de Enciso
1546
Detail of a hand colored manuscript map shows flags and place names along a coastal region.

[Early representation of Newfoundland, Lower California, the Amazon, and the Ladrones]

António Pereira
circa 1546
Detail of a printed book shows an illustration of a woman with long hair, elaborate drawings on her body, and holding a spear.

A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia.

Thomas Harriot
1590
Detail from a colored manuscript map shows the world labeled with text in Latin.

De geometriae principiis ad sphaerae astronomicae noticiam neces sariis. caput primum…

Glareanus
1513
Printed text shows a circular diagram below text in Latin.

Breves in sphaeram meditatiunculae

Bartholomaeus Mercator
1563
Detail of gold JCB stamp on black binding.

Principall navigations, voiages, and discoveries of the English nation

Edward Wright
1598
Detail of a colored manuscript atlas shows a coastal region and labels in Latin. Other details include drawings of castles and mountains.

[Portolan atlas] / Vesconte de Maiolo ciuis Janue conposuy

Vesconte Maggiolo
1511
Detail of a printed book shows branding marks ("marca de fuego") on the outer edges. Leather binding also partially visible.

Aqui comiença vn vocabulario en la lengua castellana y mexicana,

Alonso de Molina
1555

Related

Fellow's Talk

Sir Walter Ralegh’s Discoverie of Guiana: Courtesy and Piracy in the Poetics of translatio imperii studiique

Fellow's Talk

Encompassing the Globe: The Iberian Atlantic in the Age of Don Quijote

Detail from: Figure des Brisilians. [Rouen, 1551]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Fellow's Talk

Un certain simulacre de la verité: Performances and Performative Readings in the Figure des Brisilians (1551)

Image from: Mr. Garrick delivering his Ode, London. [John Lodge 1770]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Lecture

If, And or But: What we can learn from ten words in Shakespeare

Image from: Mr. Garrick delivering his Ode, London. [John Lodge 1770]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Lecture

Ten Things I Learned From Shakespeare

Image from: Inca or Indians of Peru. [N. Guérard le fils, 1717]. Original image at the John Carter Brown Library.
Fellow's Talk

Daughters of the Inca Conquest: Indigenous Noble Women in Colonial Peru

Image from: Tovar, Juan de. [Tovar Codex]. [Mexico City, between 1582 and 1587]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Fellow's Talk

The Embodiment of the Word: European Book Culture and New World Manuscripts, 1540-1600

Image from: Tovar Codex-El modo de baylar de los Mexicanos. 17a y última del primer tratado. [Juan de Tovar 1585]. Original at the John Carter Brown Library.
Workshop

Visual Thinking in the Archive: Mesoamerican Codices at the JCB

See Also

Indigenous History

Travel Literature and Fictional Accounts