Journal ou Relation Exacte du Voyage de Gvill. Schouten, dans les Indes: par vn nouueau destroit, & par les grandes mers australes qu'il à descouuert, vers le pole Antartique. ensemble des nouvelles terres auparauant incognuës, isles, fruicts, peuples, & animaux estranges, qu'il a trouué en son chemin: et des rares obseruations qu'il y à fait touchant la declinaison de l' aymant by LOCKE, John (1632-1704). - Willem Corneliszoon SCHOUTEN (d.1625) - 1618

Paris: Chez M. Gobert, 1618. 8vo. 4 folding maps, 4 folding plates. (Signature "E" supplied from another copy). Contemporary vellum, manuscript title on spine, modern morocco-backed slipcase Provenance: John Locke (signature and inscription) John Locke's copy of the rare first Paris edition of "Willem Schouten's voyage around the world, during which Cape Horn was discovered and rounded for the first time" (Hill): a landmark voyage in the history of western exploration. Schouten's voyage was one of the great early voyages of discovery and only the third circumnavigation. Undertaken in 1615 and lasting until 1617, this important expedition succeded in its primary objective which was to find an alternative route to the rich sources of wealth in the Pacific. The Dutch East India Company had a strangle-hold on the two known routes: via the Cape of Good Hope and through the Straits of Magellan. A rival group of aggressive Dutch traders, formed the "Compagnie Australe", and eqiuiped the expedition with discovered and rounded Cape Horn, named after the Dutch town of Hoorn where the sponsors were based. In addition, the expedition explored the Pacific coast of South America, pursued the search for Terra Australis, and proved that Tierra del Fuego was not an island. Principle among the Hoorn merchant benefactors was Isaac Le Maire, whose son, Jacob Le Maire, was charged as the director of the enterprise. Jacob named the Le Maire strait in honour of his father. "The ship Eendracht , while crossing the Pacific, discovered some of the Tuamotu Islands, the Hoorn Islands, the Schouten Islands, and visited New Guinea, the Moluccas, and Batavia. When Schouten and Le Maire arrived in Ternate, their ship was confiscated by the Dutch East India Company [as they were unable to convince the authorities that they had arrived by a third unrestricted route] ... The Dutch governor of Batavia sent them back to the Netherlands with Joris van Spilbergen ... Thus these famous navigators returned home together. Sadly, Jacob Le Maire did not share the honors, as he died of fever at Mauritius on the return trip" (Hill [2004] p.547). This edition contains four maps and four plates: 1. map of the world in two hemispheres with surrounding portraits; 2. map of Tierra del Fuego; 3. map of the South Sea; 4. plate of a Polynesian sailing a canoe; 5. plate bearing the inscription, "Isle de Cocos"; 6. plate bearing the inscription, "Isle de Hoorn"; 7. plate of the "Indian kings" and their village; 8. map of Nova Guinea. This copy has the pagination errors on pages 56, 215, and 179, that are not found in all copies. Schouten's work was originally published in Amsterdam in 1618 by Willem Jansz Blaeu. Though printed in his name, Schouten was most likely not the author of the present work, and it was probably compiled for him by Blaeu from the ships' logs. The work proved to be exceedingly popular, "no fewer than thirty-eight editions of the work were printed in Holland alone between the year 1618 and 1766" (Church). This copy has the additional interest of having belonged to the famous philosopher John Locke, and includes his ink ownership inscription on the front pastedown. In front of his signature Locke has made the notation "b" which, according to The library of John Locke by Harrison and Laslett, was an inventory mark put into books in or about 1697 and not to be found in any books acquired after that date. Locke has noted at the foot of the titlepage that this is a duplicate copy. A translation of part of Locke's epitaph reads: "bred a scholar, he made his learning subservient only to the cause of truth", a dictum that led to a period of exile in Amsterdam. Locke "is widely regarded as one of the most influential Enlightenment thinkers and contributors to liberal theory. His writings influenced Voltaire and Rousseau, many Scottish Enlightenment thinkers, as well as the American revolutionaries. This influence is reflected in the American Declaration of Independence." (Wikipedia). European Americana 618/119; cf. Palau 305104 (the Paris 1619 edition); Sabin 77952; Tiele-Muller 42n.