CARLETTI, Francesco (1573–1636). Early manuscript copy of Viaggi di Francesco Carletti, being an account of his travels to the Indies. [Italy, late 17th century].

Manuscript account of Carletti’s circumnavigation, likely predating the first printed edition of 1701. Carletti circumnavigated the globe from 1594 to 1606, completing the first private, commercial circumnavigation free from national or church sponsorship. In the decade after his return, he began preparing his accounts for publication but they would not appear in print in his lifetime, instead being published in 1701 after extensive editing by Lorenzo Magalotti (1637–1712). Carletti’s original manuscript diaries are not known to survive, but four manuscript copies have been identified other than the present manuscript. The text of the present manuscript, possibly the only copy in private hands, is close to Codex 1331 (T.3.22) in the Biblioteca Angelica at Rome, which was used for the modern edition by Gianfranco Silvestri’s due to the belief that it is closer to Carletti’s original text than the printed edition.

Carletti provides one of the earliest account of chocolate, its production and trade. He writes in the fifth section here: “la qual frutta serve anco di moneta [per] spendere e comprare nelle Piazze le cose minute, dandosene [per] un giulio il n[umer]o 70, o, 80; secondo che se ne ricoglie piu, o meno, ma il suo principal consumo si fa in una certa bivanda, che gl’Indiane chiamano Cioccolato, la qual si fa mescolando dette frutte, che son’ grosse come ghiande con ‘acqua calda, e zucchero, e prima secche molto bene, e brustolato al fuoco si disfanno sopra certe pietre, si come noi vediamo disfare i colori alli pittori frigando il pestillo”

This fruit also serves as a kind of currency to spend and buy small things in the market squares, yielding 70 or 80 per giulio, according to whether more or less is harvested. But its main use is in a certain beverage that the Indians call chocolate, which is made by mixing these fruits – which are as big as acorns – with hot water and sugar. First, they are thoroughly dried and roasted over the fire, then ground upon certain stones, just as we see painters dissolve colors by rubbing with a pestle.

Folio (267 × 190mm). 140 leaves of text including manuscript title-page in a second hand (light spotting). Contemporary vellum (few stains). Provenance: possibly Jan-Baptist Sophie, Abbot of Grimbergen Abbey (1692–1775; armorial bookplate) – sale, Sotheby’s, London, 9 May 2006, lot 210.