Nidelberg, Ambrosius Svenonis
Ambrosius Svenonis Nidelberg (c. 1620 - 1689) was a Swedish scholar, judge, and philosopher. His father was the treasurer of the County of Visingsborg; the family served Count Per Brahe, the Chancellor of the Academy of Turku; when Nidelberg was in due course enrolled at the Academy in 1658, he received a six year stipend. He studied, probably for law, in Jena in 1660. He earned his baccalaureate in philosophy in 1664. He became an assistant judge in 1684; he would also continue his family's service to Count Brahe, notably as a translator. His surviving work consists mostly of translations and syntheses of important European travel accounts, including Martini's book on China and Tartary and Schouten's description of Siam. These are notable for being the earliest works in the Swedish language pertaining to their respective subjects.
First Swedish printed description of the Americas.
This rare volume is the first and only edition of Ambrosius Svenonis Nidelberg's 1675 description of the New World: it is the earliest substantial Swedish printed work pertaining to America. Sabin described it as 'one of the scarcest of the Swedish typographical productions of the seventeenth century on America.' The work is both geographical and ethnographic: it is the first Swedish description of North America's indigenous population. In particular, it is the first Swedish description of the English colonies in Bermuda and Virginia. (more details)