Period

17th Century

Featured Items

Detail of a manuscript map shows coastal profiles and women or mermaids holding the flags of Ireland, Scotland, and England.

Mountserrat island, ms. 1673

William Blathwayt
1673
Detail of a printed book shows worn papers and header text reading "An Anagram. Anna Bradestreate" and other text in English.

The tenth muse lately sprung up in America

Anne Bradstreet
1650
hand colored map of north America

The north part of America...

Henry Briggs
1625
Detail of a printed text shows full-page illustrations of tools for the preparation of hot chocolate.

Du Bon usage du thé, du caffé et du chocolat pour la preservation & pour la guerison des maladies.

Nicolas de Blegny
1687
Detail from a printed book shows a fold-out illustration depicting ships in a bay engaging in naval warfare.

De Americaensche zee-roovers

Alexandre Olivier Exquemelin
1678
Detail of a hand colored manuscript estate plan shows a large compass rose and trees on the estate.

[Estate plan of 300 acres of land near Holetown, Barbados]

John Hapcott
1646
Detail of a printed book shows engraved title page depicting women, ships, and animals. Text in Dutch.

Engelsch edelmans, zeldzaame en gedenkwaardige zee- en land-reizen

Eduward Meltons
1681
Detail of hand colored, manuscript map shows rivers (outlined in green) and labels written in red ink. Near the large, red letters reading "Mor" there is a plantation notable for being labeled "Jews." Other plantations are labeled with surnames.

A discription of the coleny of Surranam in Guiana drawne in the year 1667

1667

Related

Engraving of two Nahua men speaking to one another. An angel hovers behind one of the men, preventing him from producing idolatrous speech, while the other has a snakes stemming from his mouth, which is representative of such language.
Fellow's Talk

"Brute animals" and "rational creatures": Defining humanity in the Indigenous-language vocabularies and pedagogies of New Spain

Image of an artificial flower clock, with two hands emerging from clouds on either side holding a numbered circle, and a thorn stemming from the flower's circle pointing at the time.
Fellow's Talk

Earthquakes and Timekeeping Practices in New England, 1600-1800

Simple, printed map of the island of Sicily, showing Mount Etna, Palermo, Messina, Catania, and other cities, which have been labeled by the author.
Fellow's Talk

Comparative Colonialisms? Palermo and the Americas at the JCB

Three sixteenth-century maps. On the left is a map of the western coast of South America including Peru, on the top right a map of the southern part of North America from the Carolinas to the Mexican coast and on the bottom right a map of the northeastern part of Mexico.
Fellow's Talk

From South to North America: A New Perspective on Floridian Studies

Cartouche of the map “La Louisiane…”  made in 1695 by Vincenzo Coronelli
Collections Up Close

Vincenzo Coronelli, “Partie occidentale du Canada ou de la Nouvelle France…” Paris : Chez J.B. Nolin, 1688

June 30, 2021
Image of Peruvian Print Shop
Lecture

Historia del libro en lenguas originarias de América

Native Americans of present-day Mexico dance around two drummers

Picturing the Past: Indigenous Expressions in Colonial Mexico

Spring 2020
JCB Fellow Juan Cobo Betancourt views an exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library
Our Fellows

Juan Cobo Betancourt, Donald L. Saunders Fellow

November 25, 2019

See Also

Black History

Manuscript