1584 ILLUSTRIOUS GREEK LATIN PAGAN MEN Thevet antique MASSIVE FOLIO illustrated

Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et payens

by Andre Thevet

(The true portraits and lives of illustrious Greek, Latin, and pagan men)

Paris; 1584


A major Renaissance biographical work illustrated with numerous engraved portraits of historical figures.

This substantial folio contains striking original 16th-century engraved portraits, including Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, Gaston de Foix, Guillaume Gouffier (Admiral de Bonnivet), and Charles d'Angouleme, among many others. 


Original decorative gilt-tooled calf binding, with floral corner ornaments and central gilt decoration.
Worn, upper board detached, lower board hinge split

Interior pages are generally well preserved.

Text is missing at one leaf, but engraving is still present (detached, loosely inserted).

Massive, heavy folio.
Size 10.5 by 16"
Thickness 5"

Text in French
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Andre Thevet (1516 – 1590) was a French Franciscan priest, explorer, cosmographer and writer who traveled to the Near East and South America.
His most significant book was The New Found World, or Antarctike, which compiled a number of different sources and his own experience into what purported to be a firsthand account of his experiences in France Antarctique, a French settlement near modern Rio de Janeiro.
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