van den Brouck, Jan Instructie der Zee-Vaert door de

Rotterdam: Abraham Migoen, 1610. Small 4to, second edition, many woodcut illustrations (no volvelles are called for in the second edition), 17th century vellum, early ownership inscription (dated 1676) of a Willem Cornelis to free-endpaper, ownership labels and a stamp of Mevrouw A.D. van der Poest Clement de Graaff to the upper cover and free-endpaper, closed tear to one leaf, some very slight initial dampstaining
Provenance: Mevrouw A.D. van der Poest Clement de Graaff, and thence by descent. The family name, van der Poest Clement, can be seen to the upper cover of this volume. Notably, Cornelis van der Poest Clement was a naval architect who trained in Scotland, on Clydebank, in the 1890s and spent the rest of his life designing ships in Rotterdam. In his later years he designed several of the substantial liners for the Holland America line including the New Amsterdam and, at the very end of his career, the Rotterdam . The Rotterdam was taken into service in 1959 as the flagship of the Holland America line and was eventually decommissioned in 2000. She is now permanently berthed and used as a hotel and conference centre in the city of Rotterdam. Note: Providing a grounding in navigation and a practical guide to the uses of maritime instruments, books such as van den Brouck's work were essential for sea-farers in the early 17th century, when the Dutch East India Company was branching into Southern Africa and Asia. It is notable that this particular volume was collected and saved by a Dutch maritime family. A rare work, the Karlsruhe Virtuelle Katalog reveals only four copies of this edition recorded in academic and national libraries worldwide.