The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation.

Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons Publishers to the University, 1903-1904. The Hakluyt Society Extra Series limited edition of Hakluyt's famed record of English voyages; one of the seminal publications in the history of exploration. Octavo, 12 volumes, original publisher's cloth, illustrated with numerous plates, folding maps, and facsimiles. One of one thousand copies printed on hand-made paper. In good condition. Hakluyt is principally remembered for his efforts in promoting and supporting the settlement of North America by the English through his writings. These works were a fertile source of material for William Shakespeare and other authors. His Principal Navigations remains one of the seminal publications in the history of exploration. "It is difficult to overrate the importance and value of this extraordinary collection of voyages" (Sabin). "Hakluyt was a vigorous propagandist and empire-builder; his purpose was to further British expansion overseas. He saw Britain's greatest opportunity in the colonisation of America, which he advocated chiefly for economic reasons, but also to spread Protestantism, and to oust Spain" (Hill). "The book must always remain a great work of history, and a great sourcebook of geography, while the accounts themselves constitute a body of narrative literature which is of the highest value in understanding the spirit and the tendencies of the Tudor age" (Penrose). "An invaluable treasure of nautical information which has affixed to Hakluyt's name a brilliancy of reputation which time can never efface or obscure" (Church). Sabin 29595 Hill 743 Penrose 318 Church 322