Made by Sea or Over-land to the Remote & Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at any time within the compasse of these 1600 Yeares.
The Principal Navigations, Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation Made by Sea or Over-land to the Remote & Farthest Distant Quarters of the Earth at any time within the compasse of these 1600 Yeares.
James MacLehose, 1903.
Deluxe edition, number 26 of 100 copies printed on handmade paper, with proofs of the illustrations on Japon and signed by the publisher. Twelve volumes. 8vo. Publisher's quarter vellum over navy blue cloth. Titles gilt with gilt device to the spine, gilt vignette of Sir Francis Drake's coat of arms to the upper cover. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Thirty-four folding maps, with seventy-two further illustrations, twelve of which are folding plates. A near fine set. Occasional light offsetting from the plates. Publisher's advertisement for the similar edition of Purchas His Pilgrims tipped in at first blank. A very handsome set.
A beautifully produced edition of the most important primary source of early English exploration, recording voyages from the fourth century to those of his great Elizabethan contemporaries Francis Drake and Martin Frobisher.
The text in MacLehose's edition, considered to be the best modern Hakluyt, is taken from the second edition of 1598, 1599 and 1600, printed by Bishop, Newberie and Barker. The illustrations, numbering over one hundred, are from contemporary sources, reproduced in facsimile, and illustrate well the nature and quality of cartography in Hakluyt's time.
"This enormous work - it is said to contain one million seven hundred thousand words - is the most complete collection of voyages and discoveries, by land as well as by sea, and of the nautical achievements of the Elizabethans... Although Hakluyt himself never travelled farther than France he inspired some of the great overseas explorations of his time and was one of the leading spirits in Elizabethan maritime expansion." (PMM)
PROVENANCE: Major Charles Hesketh Fleetwood-Hesketh (bookplate to front pastedown of each volume).
PMM 105 (For the second edition).
Stock ID: 38262
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