BRY, Théodore de / PIGAFETTA, Filippo. Regnum Congo est Vera descriptio regni Africani, quod tam ab incolis quam Lusitanis Congus appellatur… [Suivi de] : Icones Ad primam partem Indiae Orientalis Quibus Ad Maiorem lectoris recreationem primus Lusitanorum cum Rege congressus, incolarum arma et instrumenta bellica, …

Very rare second Latin edition of this very important work which describes Congo Kingdom at the end of the sixteenth century.

New York Public Library, Bulletin, 8 : 238 ; La Collection Dutuit, p. 242, No. XXXVI ; Crawford, Collations, p. 159 ; Huth, Catalogue, 2 : 433* ; John Carter Brown, Catalogue, 1 : 373 ; Brunet, I, 1335.

New York Public Library, Bulletin, 8 : 238 ; La Collection Dutuit, p. 242, No. XXXVI ; Crawford, Collations, p. 159 ; Huth, Catalogue, 2 : 433* ; John Carter Brown, Catalogue, 1 : 373 ; Brunet, I, 1335.

“Born in Benavente (Estramadura), Duarte Lopez left Lisbon in 1578 for northern Angola. Once he settled in Congo, he resided in Loanda until 1587. The king of the Congo, Dom Alvare, sent him on an embassy to Pope Sixtus V and Philip II, king of Spain and Portugal. The purpose of this mission was to expose to them the sad state of Christianity in the Congo and to ask for help in apostles, soldiers and money. Lopez only brought back vague promises from Africa; the rest of his life is unknown. Felipe Pigafetta wrote, according to the notes of Duarte Lopez, a ‘Relatione del reame di Congo’, etc.; Rome, 1591, in-4, with maps and figures. This work is extremely curious, and completes the accounts of Merolla and Dapper… There are Latin, English and German translations. De Bry and Purchas have published extracts in their travel collections”.

“This relation of the kingdom of Congo, with the description which it contains of some other countries, was composed, in 1589, by Philippe Pigafetta, from the memories of Edouard Lopez, who, after having spent several years in the kingdom of Congo, had been sent by the king of this country, with the quality of ambassador, to the pope and the king of Spain, to implore their help against his enemies, and to ask them for missionaries and priests. Lopez’s requests had little success at the court of Madrid. He went to Rome, where his embassy was no more successful. But at the request of Antonio Migliore, he recounted his travels, attaching written notes and explanations that could increase their usefulness. Pigafetta wrote the whole in Italian. Lopez set sail again for Africa, as soon as the work had been composed under his eyes, that is to say in 1589. Pigafetta adds, at the end of his report, that Lopez promised to return to Rome with new information on the Nile and on other matters which he had not yet had the occasion to look into; but since then one did not hear any more about him. The memoirs of Lopez were translated into Latin by Augustine Cassiodore Reinius and placed by de Bry at the beginning of his collection of voyages.” (Walckenaer, Histoire générale des Voyages, XIII, pp. 3-4)

The information contained in this book is of great interest both geographically and ethnographically, as historians consider Edouard Lopez as one of the pioneer explorers of central Africa, admitting that he had visited the Great Lakes region and climbed to the source of the Nile.

The present work was published in Italian (Rome, 1591) and has been translated into German (Frankfurt, 1597 and 1609), Latin (Frankfurt, 1598 and 1624), Dutch (Amsterdam, 1596 and 1658) and English (London, 1881).

The abundant illustration is composed of three maps of Congo and Egypt on double-page, grouped in the first part of the volume, and of 14 superb engravings representing the customs of the country. The engraving dealing with cannibalism, one of the first to be published on this theme, is of the highest interest.

A precious copy of this very rare travel account to Africa at the end of the sixteenth century.