Pauli, J.C. Hentzneri - Itinerarium Germaniae, Galliae, Angliae, Italiae: - 1629

Rare travelogue of Elizabethan England

HENTZNERI, Pauli, J.C.
Itinerarium Germaniae, Galliae, Angliae, Italiae: huic libro accessére novâ hâc editione : I. Monita peregrinatoria duorum doctissimorum virorum : itemq[ue], II. incerti auctoris Epitome praecognitorum historicorum, antehac non edita.

Second edition [first 1612], the first to include Gruber’s Discursus de peregrinatione studiosorum, Plotius’s Tabula peregrinationis and the anonymous Epitome praecognitorum historicorum. A travel work by Paul Hentzner, together with Daniel Gruber & Hugo Plotius. The English portion of his travels was later printed in English (in 1757).

His travels, described in the main part, were undertaken by Hentzner , jurist and councillor to Duke Carl of Munsterberg and Oels, between 1597 and 1600. Very good condition. Contemporary full leather binding with gilt titles to the spine and burgundy leather label. In very good, slightly rubbed condition. Internally in very good, clean condition throughout, with a little darkening and foxing only. A few pages are trimmed a little tight to the top edge, leading to some loss of text.

Pagination. [16], 614, [162] pages, [1] With a folding letterpress table summarising the Epitome, in the form of a branching diagram dividing history into its elements, chronology and geography, the latter including both Americas and the imagined “Terra Australis seu Magellanica”. Plotius’s Tabella (title in red) gives the young traveller a checklist of what to observe in every place, beginning with prayer. The final leaf has a woodcut of Elijah taken up to heaven in his chariot, with lines from Ausonius on “the path of heaven”: an apt close to a book of journeys.

Signatures: [⁸, A-3C4. (2T2, 3C3 & 3C4 blank)]. "Dn. Danielis Gruberi Discursus de peregrinatione studiosorum": p. [47]-[102] at end (Tt3--Yy6); "Tabula peregrinationis continens capita politica per D. Hugonem Plotium ... ": p. [103]-[118] (Yy7-Zz6) at end; "Incerti auctoris Praecognitorum historicorum epitome ... ": p. [119]-[157] (Zz77-Ccc2) at end.

Conforms to WorldCat / OCLC: 17381238. Bibliographies: Graesse III, 243. Stagl 52. - Not in Pescarzoli and Tresoldi. A scarce work. There are no copies available for sale at the time of cataloguing and it has appeared at auction only once since 1980. 15cm x 9.5cm

Paul Hentzner (1558–1623) was a German lawyer and travel writer, best known for his detailed account of late Elizabethan England. Born in Crossen, in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, he became a tutor to a young Silesian nobleman in 1596. The following year, they embarked on a three-year tour through Switzerland, France, England, and Italy. they landed at Rye in summer 1598, The work is considered a valuable historical source, providing insights into the customs, places, and people of late 16th and early 17th century Europe, with a particular focus on England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. His work provides vivid portrayals of the English court, society, and landscapes. He praised Queen Elizabeth I's intelligence and multilingual abilities, portraying her as a symbol of England's prosperity and strength.

In 1598 a Silesian lawyer, travelling as tutor to a young nobleman, watched the 65-year-old Elizabeth I process to chapel at Greenwich. He wrote down what he saw. “oblong, fair, but wrinkled”, small black eyes, a hooked nose, and “her teeth black (a defect the English seem subject to, from their too great use of sugar)”. She wore red false hair and was covered in pearls. In addition to the usual tourist trips, He also noted things the English didn’t think to record: the heads of traitors on spikes on London Bridge, the English habit of constant tobacco smoking, and their love of loud noise (cannon, drums and bells).

The folding plate is “Tabula, Dictorum” (the essential preliminary knowledge for studying history). Next to this is Plotius’s Tabula peregrinationis which sets out what above all is to be observed when travelling
The last page has a woodcut of the Ascension of Elijah: after 600 pages of journeys through Germany, France, England and Italy, the book ends with the last journey of all. Elijah and Enoch are the only two people in the Bible taken bodily to heaven, so they are the ultimate travellers.