Novae novi orbis historiae, id est rerum ab Hispanis in India Occidentali hactenus gestarum, & acerbo illorum in eas gentes dominatu….LE CHAILLEUX, Nicolas. De Gallorum in Floridam expeditione, & insigne Hispaniorum in cos szuitiz exemplo brevis historia.

Geneva: Eustace Vignon, 1578.
First Latin Edition
Two parts in one volume, 8vo(169 x 104 mm). Contemporary Limp Vellum, Woodcut anchor device on title, initials, head and tail pieces, early signatures on title.

This is the first edition of Benzoni to include the translator Le Chailleux’s account of the Spanish destruction of the French Huguenot colony in Florida in the 1660s. The circulation of Benzoni’s book was forbidden in Spain, but it enjoyed great popularity in the other European countries, and because of this wide readership, news of France’s venture in Florida spread throughout the Continent. Benzoni was born in Milan around 1519 and at the age of twenty-two left Italy to tour the New World. After fourteen years of travel, he returned and published the first edition (in Italian: Venice, 1565).

His detailed description of the Indians before the great period of European influence adds importance to his writings. Field notes that Benzoni’s work is “the first book of Travels of which America has been so fruitful, as Benzoni seems to have been the first who travelled merely to gratify his curiosity and recorded his observations.”

Alden & Landis 581/4; Adams B-686; Arents 25-1; Field 119; JBC (3) I:283; Palau 27629; Sabin 4792n.