The Principal Navigations Voyages Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation

Glasgow: James MacLehose and Sons, 1903. Reprint of 2nd edition. Complete with all half-titles and frontispieces, maps and plates. Blue cloth, top edges gilt, uncut; text toned throughout. A very good set with the Cromwell bookplate in all volumes. Reprint of the second edition of the single most important collection of English travel expeditions prior to the seventeenth century. Hakluyt’s seminal work brought together many first-hand accounts of travel across the globe, rendering this set an invaluable resource for the history of discovery in the English empire and the colonization of the modern world. These accounts range from travelogs and documentation to diplomatic reports and depositions, and even include a lengthy poem about English policy. Also included is an essay by Sir Walter Raleigh on English voyages in the sixteenth century.

Hakluyt (1552?-1616) was a geographer and historian of travel and discovery whose magnum opus was this 12 volume set. Educated at Oxford, he was also a respected a member of the clergy. His penchant for travel and exploration put him in the position of making the acquaintance of many English ambassadors, captains, and voyagers, all which became resources for this seminal work.