Neue Jerosolymitanische Pilger-Fahrt, das ist kurtze, doch wahrhafft- und denck-wurdige Beschreibung dess gelobten Heiligen Lands.
Augsburg: Maria Magdalena Utzschneider, 1699.
Price: $10,500.00
Quarto: 21.5 x 16.5 cm. [10] lvs, 368 p., [3] lvs. Collation: [A]4 (including frontis. and engraved arms), B-D4, added woodcut at p. 12; E4, added woodcut at p. 18; F-G4, engraved map showing the fleet at p. 30); K-L4, folding woodcut map at p. 62; 1 folding woodcut city view, also at p. 62; M-N4, folding engraved map with ships at p. 78 (should be bound at pp. 7-8); O-X4, folding woodcut city map at p. 144; Y-Z4, Aa4, folding woodcut plan at p. 166; Bb-Zz4, Aaa-Ccc4, Ddd1
SECOND ILLUSTRATED EDITION, THIRD EDITION OVERALL.
Bound in contemporary, blind-stamped pigskin over beveled wooden boards (re-cased and with new endpapers), deftly rebacked in pigskin, spine with author’s name and the title in ink, minor defects, metal clasps removed. A fine copy internally with scattered light foxing and occasional toning. Illustrated with an engraved frontispiece, 6 added woodcut “plates” (4 folding), 17 woodcuts in the text, and 2 folding engraved maps.
This is the scarce second illustrated edition of Ignaz Eggs’ (“Ignatius von Rheinfelden”) “Neue Jerosolymitanische Pilger-Fahrt” (A New Voyage to Jerusalem). The author, a Franciscan monk, gives an account of his 16-month travels in the Holy Land, including a description of Jerusalem. It is illustrated with woodcuts with views of Jerusalem, the Morea, a view of the house of the high priest Caiaphas, the Convent of St. Francis, a plan of the Temple, etc.
Eggs’ description of his journeys from 1655 to 1656 were printed for the first time (without illustrations) in 1664. The book was reissued in 1667, this time with numerous illustrations (including maps of the Holy Land, the Battles of the Dardanelles (24-26 June 1656); views of Jerusalem, the Morea and the Levant) and supplemental material. This Augsburg edition was published by Maria Magdalena Utzschneider.
At the call of the Minister General of the Capuchin Order, Fortunatus of Catoro, Eggs, serving as chaplain, joined the Venetian fleet that sailed against the Turks in 1655 under Laurenzo Marcello (d. 1656). Eggs gives an eye-witness account of the war, including his experience at the crucial Battle of the Dardanelles (24-26 June 1656), where the Venetian forces destroyed the Ottoman fleet and Admiral Marcello fell in battle. Eggs also had the opportunity to explore some of the Greek islands (Lemnos, Patmos, etc.), which he describes.
Towards the end of 1656, Eggs accompanied Count Octavio von Thurn und Taxis on a trip to the Near East, traveling through those lands for 16 months. He describes Jaffa and Ramla (both of which are illustrated with a woodcut view of the city), Bethlehem (with images of the Franciscan convent and the Church of the Nativity), and Nazareth. Eggs’ description of Jerusalem is -naturally- the longest, and is illustrated with woodcuts of its temples, churches, and shrines; a large folding view of the entire city, and another of Mount Zion. He also discusses Tyre, Sidon, Tripoli, Beirut, and Cyprus. He then sets home for Venice.
Eggs also gives a long history of Islam, beginning with its founder, Muhammad, and continuing through to a discussion of the Ottoman Turks and the state of the Turkish Empire in Eggs’ own time.
The second part of the volume is a historical account of capuchin missionary activity in Africa, the Levant, and elsewhere in the world, with papal documents granting Capuchins authority worldwide, including in the Americas (with several documents relating to Canada.)
The history is introduced by a German translation of the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV’s permits granting the Capuchins free passage and permission to reside and teach throughout the Ottoman Empire, wherever there are Christians (26 April 1627); and permission to found a hospital at Aleppo, Syria (12 April 1627); as well as two letters written by the Capuchin missionary Father Pacifique de Provins (b. 1588), who travelled extensively in Muslim lands, preaching or establishing missions in present-day Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran (1621-23, 1626-29). The Sultan’s letters, written in Turkish and first published in 1627, were translated into French, then Italian, and then into German. This German translation was first printed in 1628.
Röhricht, “Bibliotheca geographica Palaestinae chronologisches Verzeichniss der auf die Geographie des Heiligen Landes bezüglichen Literatur von 333 bis 1878”, p. 264 no. 1096 (under Ignaz von Rhienfelden); Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie V, 675; Tobler, Bibliographia geographica Palaestinae, p. 106