Begin ende Voortgangh van de Vereenighde Nederlantsche Geoctroyeerde Oost-Indische Compagnie.

The definitive edition of the great early Dutch voyages of exploration. This collection of voyages, many undertaken by the Dutch East India Company (VOC), ranks as a record of some of the most important mercantile adventures in the history of European expansion. Complete sets are rarely found today, many having being split into their constituent parts.

This finely illustrated work is one of the great voyage collections and ranks alongside those of Hakluyt and Purchas. It includes accounts of all the voyages on which the Duyfken, captained by William Jansz, sailed, of great importance as it was the Duyfken which would make the first sighting of the Australian coast.

This is the preferred edition of the work (two editions, far less complete, had previously appeared), with a preface by Commelin, a summary of pre-1631 Dutch voyages, and is superbly illustrated with maps, charts, views of the early settlements, indigenous people, and natural history subjects.

The collection includes De Veer, Voyages to the North; Houtman, Voyage to the East Indies; Neck, Voyage to the East Indies; Van Noort, Voyage round the World; Neck, Second Voyage; Spilbergen, Voyage to the East Indies; Van Caerden, Voyage to the East Indies; Spilbergen, Voyage round the World; and others. Of particular interest may be mentioned the world voyage of Jacques l'Hermite, which includes the famous Quirós Memorial.

No other work gives such a complete view of the Dutch voyages and the plethora of engraved illustrations really brings these truly extraordinary tales of adventure alive.