Historia Americae siue Noui Orbis
Subtitle: Continens in XIII. distinctis partibus verissimam, exactissimam, et admirandam descriptionem, vastissimarum, et multis abhinc seculis incognitarum terrarum, quae patrum memoria primùm detectae, nunc passim Indiae Occidentalis nomine vulgò vsurpantur. Narratio incredibilis jucunditatis et vtilitatis: in qua de natvra et situ noui illius orbis; de ratione coeli, elementorum ac meteororum, de priscorum incolarum horrendâ idolomaniâ; de statu ac formis politiae, rerumpubl. & imperiorum: anarchia, feritate et barbarie quorumdam; oeconomia, moribus ac ritibus diuersarum gentium; qualitate soli; alluuione vteriusq[ue] oceani; fluuiorum indole; vbertate frugum; praestantia metallorum; volucrum, animalium, pisciumq[ue]; illi orbis parti peculiarium, ingenios miraculis naturae bellis Indorum mutuis et quicquid praeterea curiosus lector desiderare potest, verè, perspicuè et sufficienter pertractatur. Cum exegesi vlteriore, quomodo & à quibus primitus illae regiones detectae, subactaeq[ue] sint: quae nauigationes à diuersis Europae populis, & quàm variâ fortunâ, ad haec vsque tempora, eò susceptae fuerint: annexâ enumeratione conuersationis, commerciorum, bellorumque cum Indis, terrae incolis. Ornata elegantissimis tabulis geographicis, et figuris aeri artificiose incisis innumeris, quibus historiae ipsi lux, lectori delectatio creatur. Deniq[ue] accessit Elenchus sectionum, & index capitum rerumq[ue] praecipuarum in toto opere contentarum
Contributors: Bry, Theodor de, 1528-1598; Bry, Johann Theodor de, 1561-1623; Bry, Johann Israel de, -1611; Merian, Matthaeus, 1593-1650
Edition: Original edition
Series: Great voyages -- Elenchus.; Great voyages -- Elenchus.
Publisher: Sumptibus Matth. Meriani.
Published: 1634
Place of publication: Francofurti
Language: lat
Number of pages: 20
Subjects: Tables of contents; Voyages and travels
Other titles: Historia Americae sive Novi Orbis.; Historia Americae.; Novi Orbis.
Notes: Constitutes the original edition of the Elenchus of Theodor de Bry's Great voyages, printed in fourteen parts, in Latin, German, French, and English, in Frankfurt am Main, Oppenheim, and Hanau from 1590-1644, and the Elenchus, an outline of the thirteen Latin parts, published by Matthias Merian in Frankfurt am Main in 1634.

This work has been identified as the original edtion of the Elenchus of the Great voyages by Church.

Fully engraved title page reads: Historia Americae sive Novi Orbis, compraehendens in XIII. sectionibus exactissimam descriptionem vastissimarvm et mvltis abhinc seculis incognitarum terrarum, quae nunc passim Indiae Occidentalis nomine vulgò vsurpantur. Cum elegantissimis tabvlis et figvris aeri incisis, nec non Elencho sectionum, & indice capitum ac rerum praecipuarum. Francofvrti, sumptibus Matth. Meriani, 1634.

Caption title on p. [13] reads: Elenchvs singvlarvm sectionvm, sev partivm totivs operis Americani: cum indice capitum rerumq[ue] praecipuarum, & maximè memorabilium, in istis XIII. partibus contentarum.

The Elenchus was originally published in 1634 by Merian, as a collective title and table of contents of the Great Voyages. He placed it at the beginning of the third edition of Hariot's Virginia, or part I, which is its true position, though it is generally found attached to the second edition of that part. As it contains a general preface and a table to the whole work, its chief value consists in the fact that it gives a comprehensive view of the contents of the collection and indicates the order in which it should be read. The Elenchus, having become very rare, even in the eighteenth century, two reprints were made, one in England, by Edwards, of nine folios; the other in France by De Bure, of ten folios. Neither of these contained the engraved title page which was not reproduced for them. The original edition may be distinguished from the reprints by the tail piece at the bottom of p. [11], which is a typographical ornament with a mask. In the De Bure reprint this ornament represents flowers; while in the Edwards reprint it is a sun in the center. Cf. Church.

Signatures: A⁶ (A1, A6 versos blank) B⁴

Added, fully engraved title page; engraved head and tail pieces; initials.

Church, E.D.  Discovery, 175.

JCB Lib. cat., pre-1675, I: p. 382.

Alden, J.E. European Americana, 634/35.