PART II. THE EARLY DESCRIPTIONS OF AMERICA AND COLLECTIVE ACCOUNTS OF

THE EARLY VOYAGES THERETO.

OF the earliest collection of voyages of which we have any mention we possess only a defective copy, which is in the Biblioteca Marciana, and is called _Libretto de tutta la navigazione del Rè di Spagna delle isole e terreni nuovamente scoperti stampato per Vercellese_. It was published at Venice in 1504,[131] and is said to contain the first three voyages of Columbus. This account, together with the narrative of Cabral’s voyage printed at Rome and Milan, and an original—at present unknown—of Vespucius’ third voyage, were embodied, with other matter, in the _Paesi novamente retrovati et novo mondo da Alberico Vesputio Florentino intitulato_, published at Vicentia in 1507,[132] and again possibly at Vicentia in 1508,—though the evidence is wanting to support the statement,—but certainly at Milan in that year (1508).[133] There were later editions in 1512,[134] 1517,[135] 1519[136] (published at Milan), and 1521.[137] There are also German,[138] Low German,[139] Latin,[140] and French[141] translations.

While this Zorzi-Montalboddo compilation was flourishing, an Italian scholar, domiciled in Spain, was recording, largely at first hand, the varied reports of the voyages which were then opening a new existence to the world. This was Peter Martyr, of whom Harrisse[142] cites an early and quaint sketch from Hernando Alonso de Herrera’s _Disputatio adversus Aristotelez_ (1517).[143] The general historians have always made due acknowledgment of his service to them.[144]

Harrisse could find no evidence of Martyr’s First Decade having been printed at Seville as early as 1500, as is sometimes stated; but it has been held that a translation of it,—though no copy is now known,—made by Angelo Trigviano into Italian was the _Libretto de tutta la navigazione del Rè di Spagna_, already mentioned.[145] The earliest unquestioned edition was that of 1511, which was printed at Seville with the title _Legatio Babylonica_; it contained nine books and a part of the tenth book of the First Decade.[146] In 1516 a new edition, without map, was printed at Alcalá in Roman letter. The part of the tenth book of the First Decade in the 1511 edition is here annexed to the ninth, and a new tenth book is added, besides two other decades, making three in all.[147]

There exists what has been called a German version (_Die Schiffung mitt dem lanndt der Gulden Insel_) of the First Decade, in which the supposed author is called Johan von Angliara; and its date is 1520, or thereabout; but Mr. Deane, who has the book, says that it is not Martyr’s.[148] Some _Poemata_, which had originally been included in the publication of the First Decade, were separately printed in 1520.[149]

At Basle in 1521 appeared his _De nuper sub D. Carolo repertis insulis_, the title of which is annexed in fac-simile. Harrisse[150] has called it an extract from the Fourth Decade; and a similar statement is made in the _Carter-Brown Catalogue_ (vol. i. no. 67). But Stevens and other authorities define it as a substitute for the lost First Letter of Cortes, touching the expedition of Grijalva and the invasion of Mexico; and it supplements, rather than overlaps, Martyr’s other narratives.[151] Mr. Deane contends that if the Fourth Decade had then been written, this might well be considered an abridgment of it.

The first complete edition (_De orbe novo_) of all the eight decades was published in 1530 at Complutum; and with it is usually found the map (“Tipus orbis universalis”) of Apianus, which originally appeared in Camer’s _Solinus_ in 1520. In this new issue the map has its date changed to 1530.[152]

In 1532, at Paris, appeared an abridgment in French of the first three decades, together with an abstract of Martyr’s _De insulis_ (Basle, 1521), followed by abridgments of the printed second and third letters of Cortes,—the whole bearing the title, _Extraict ov Recveil des Isles nouuellemēt trouuees en la grand mer Oceane en temps du roy Despaigne Fernād & Elizabeth sa femme, faict premierement en latin par Pierre Martyr de Millan, & depuis translate en languaige francoys_.[153]

In 1533, at Basle, in folio, we find the first three decades and the tract of 1521 (_De insulis_) united in _De rebus oceanicis et orbe novo_.[154]

At Venice, in 1534, the _Summario de la generale historia de l’Indie occidentali_ was a joint issue of Martyr and Oviedo, under the editing of Ramusio.[155] An edition of Martyr, published at Paris in 1536, sometimes mentioned,[156] does not apparently exist;[157] but an edition of 1537 is noted by Sabin.[158] In 1555 Richard Eden’s _Decades of the Newe Worlde, or West India_, appeared in black-letter at London. It is made up in large part from Martyr,[159] and was the basis of Richard Willes’ edition of Eden in 1577, which included the first four decades, and an abridgment of the last four, with additions from Oviedo and others,—all under the new name, _The History of Trauayle_.[160]

There was an edition again at Cologne in 1574,—the one which Robertson used.[161] Three decades and the _De insulis_ are also included in a composite folio published at Basle in 1582, containing also Benzoni and Levinus, all in German.[162] The entire eight decades, in Latin, which had not been printed together since the Basle edition of 1530, were published in Paris in 1587 under the editing of Richard Hakluyt, with the title: _De orbe novo Petri Martyris Anglerii Mediolanensis, protonotarij, et Caroli quinti senatoris Decades octo, diligenti temporum obseruatione, et vtilissimis annotationibus illustratæ, suôque nitori restitutæ, labore et industria Richardi Haklvyti Oxoniensis Angli. Additus est in vsum lectoris accuratus totius operis index_. Parisiis, apud Gvillelmvm Avvray, 1587. With its “F. G.” map, it is exceedingly rare.[163]

As illustrating in some sort his more labored work, the _Opus epistolarum Petri Martyris_ was first printed at Complutum in 1530.[164] The letters were again published at Amsterdam, in 1670,[165] in an edition which had the care of Ch. Patin, to which was appended other letters by Fernando del Pulgar.[166]

The most extensive of the early collections was the _Novus orbis_, which was issued in separate editions at Basle and Paris in 1532. Simon Grynæus, a learned professor at Basle, signed the preface; and it usually passes under his name. Grynæus was born in Swabia, was a friend of Luther, visited England in 1531, and died in Basle, in 1541. The compilation, however, is the work of a canon of Strasburg, John Huttich (born about 1480; died, 1544), but the labor of revision fell on Grynæus.[167] It has the first three voyages of Columbus, and those of Pinzon and Vespucius; the rest of the book is taken up with the travels of Marco Polo and his successors to the East.[168] It next appeared in a German translation at Strasburg in 1534, which was made by Michal Herr, _Die New Welt_. It has no map, gives more from Martyr than the other edition, and substitutes a preface by Herr for that of Grynæus.[169] The original Latin was reproduced at Basle again in 1537, with 1536 in the colophon.[170] In 1555 another edition was printed at Basle, enlarged upon the 1537 edition by the insertion of the second and third of the Cortes letters and some accounts of efforts in converting the Indians.[171] Those portions relating to America exclusively were reprinted in the Latin at Rotterdam in 1616.[172]

Sebastian Münster, who was born in 1489, was forty-three years old when his map of the world—which is preserved in the Paris (1532) edition of the _Novus orbis_—appeared. This is the first time that Münster significantly comes before us as a describer of the geography of the New World. Again in 1540 and 1542 he was associated with the editions of Ptolemy issued at Basle in those years.[173] It is, however, upon his _Cosmographia_, among his forty books, that Münster’s fame chiefly rests. The earliest editions are extremely rare, and seem not to be clearly defined by the bibliographers. It appears to have been originally issued in German, probably in 1544 at Basle,[174] under the mixed title: _Cosmographia. Beschreibūg aller lender Durch Sebastianum Munsterum. Getruckt zü Basel durch Henrichum Petri, Anno MDxliiij._[175] He says that he had been engaged upon it for eighteen years, keeping Strabo before him as a model. To the section devoted to Asia he adds a few pages “Von den neüwen inseln” (folios dcxxxv-dcxlij).

This account was scant; and though it was a little enlarged in the second edition in 1545,[176] it remained of small extent through subsequent editions, and was confined to ten pages in that of 1614. The last of the German editions appeared in 1628.[177] The earliest undoubted Latin text[178] appeared at Basle in 1550, with the same series of new views, etc., by Manuel Deutsch, which were given in the German edition of that date.[179] With nothing but a change of title apparently, there were reissues of this edition in 1551, 1552, and 1554,[180] and again in 1559.[181] The edition of 1572 has the same map, “Novæ insulæ,” used in the 1554 editions; but new names are added, and new plates of Cusco and Cuba are also furnished.[182]

The earliest French edition, according to Brunet,[183] appeared in 1552; and other editions followed in that language.[184] Eden gave the fifth book an English dress in 1553, which was again issued in 1572 and 1574.[185] A Bohemian edition, made by Jan z Puchowa, _Kozmograffia Czieská_, was issued in 1554.[186] The first Italian edition was printed at Basle in 1558, using the engraved plates of the other Basle issues; and finally, in 1575, an Italian edition, according to Brunet,[187] appeared at Colonia.

The best-known collection of voyages of the sixteenth century is that of Ramusio, whose third volume—compiled probably in 1553, and printed in 1556—is given exclusively to American voyages.[188] It contains, however, little regarding Columbus not given by Peter Martyr and Oviedo, except the letter to Fracastoro.[189] In Ramusio the narratives of these early voyages first got a careful and considerate editor, who at this time was ripe in knowledge and experience, for he was well beyond sixty,[190] and he had given his maturer years to historical and geographical study. He had at one time maintained a school for topographical studies in his own house. Oviedo tells us of the assistance Ramusio was to him in his work. Locke has praised his labors without stint.[191]

Monardes, one of the distinguished Spanish physicians of this time, was busy seeking for the simples and curatives of the New World plants, as the adventurers to New Spain brought them back. The original issue of his work was the _Dos Libros_, published at Seville in 1565, treating “of all things brought from our West Indies which are used in medicine, and of the Bezaar Stone, and the herb Escuerçonera.” This book is become rare, and is priced as high as 200 francs and £9.[192] The “segunda parte” is sometimes found separately with the date 1571; but in 1574 a third part was printed with the other two,—making the complete work, _Historia medicinal de nuestras Indias_,—and these were again issued in 1580.[193] An Italian version, by Annibale Briganti, appeared at Venice in 1575 and 1589,[194] and a French, with Du Jardin, in 1602.[195] There were three English editions printed under the title of _Joyfull Newes out of the newe founde world, wherein is declared the rare and singular virtues of diverse and sundry Herbes, Trees, Oyles, Plantes, and Stones, by Doctor Monardus of Sevill, Englished by John Frampton_, which first appeared in 1577, and was reprinted in 1580, with additions from Monardes’ other tracts, and again in 1596.[196]

The Spanish historians of affairs in Mexico, Peru, and Florida are grouped in the _Hispanicarum rerum scriptores_, published at Frankfort in 1579-1581, in three volumes.[197] Of Richard Hakluyt and his several collections,—the _Divers Voyages_ of 1582, the _Principall Navigations_ of 1589, and his enlarged edition, of which the third volume (1600) relates to America,—there is an account in Vol. III. of the present work.[198]

The great undertaking of De Bry was also begun towards the close of the same century. De Bry was an engraver at Frankfort, and his professional labors had made him acquainted with works of travel. The influence of Hakluyt and a visit to the English editor stimulated him to undertake a task similar to that of the English compiler.

He resolved to include both the Old and New World; and he finally produced his volumes simultaneously in Latin and German. As he gave a larger size to the American parts than to the others, the commonly used title, referring to this difference, was soon established as _Grands et petits voyages_.[199] Theodore De Bry himself died in March, 1598; but the work was carried forward by his widow, by his sons John Theodore and John Israel, and by his sons-in-law Matthew Merian and William Fitzer. The task was not finished till 1634, when twenty-five parts had been printed in the Latin, of which thirteen pertain to America; but the German has one more part in the American series. His first part—which was Hariot’s _Virginia_—was printed not only in Latin and German, but also in the original English[200] and in French; but there seeming to be no adequate demand in these languages, the subsequent issues were confined to Latin and German. There was a gap in the dates of publication between 1600 (when the ninth part is called “postrema pars”) and 1619-1620, when the tenth and eleventh parts appeared at Oppenheim, and a twelfth at Frankfort in 1624. A thirteenth and fourteenth part appeared in German in 1628 and 1630; and these, translated together into Latin, completed the Latin series in 1634.

Without attempting any bibliographical description,[201] the succession and editions of the American parts will be briefly enumerated:—

=I.= _Hariot’s Virginia._ In Latin, English, German, and French, in 1590; four or more impressions of the Latin the same year. Other editions of the German in 1600 and 1620.

=II=. _Le Moyne’s Florida._ In Latin, 1591 and 1609; in German, 1591, 1603.

=III.= _Von Staden’s Brazil._ In Latin, 1592, 1605, 1630; in German, 1593 (twice).

=IV.= _Benzoni’s New World._ In Latin, 1594 (twice), 1644; in German, 1594, 1613.

=V.= _Continuation of Benzoni._ In Latin, 1595 (twice); in German, two editions without date, probably 1595 and 1613.

=VI.= _Continuation of Benzoni (Peru)._ In Latin, 1596, 1597, 1617; in German, 1597, 1619.

=VII.= _Schmidel’s Brazil._ In Latin, 1599, 1625; in German, 1597, 1600, 1617.

=VIII.= _Drake, Candish, and Ralegh._ In Latin, 1599 (twice), 1625; in German, 1599, 1624.

=IX.= _Acosta_, etc. In Latin, 1602, 1633; in German, probably 1601; “additamentum,” 1602; and again entire after 1620.

=X.= _Vespucius, Hamor, and John Smith._ In Latin, 1619 (twice); in German, 1618.

=XI.= _Schouten and Spilbergen._ In Latin, 1619,—appendix, 1620; in German, 1619,—appendix, 1620.

=XII.= _Herrera._ In Latin, 1624; in German, 1623.

=XIII.= _Miscellaneous_,—_Cabot_, etc. In Latin, 1634; in German, the first seven sections in 1627 (sometimes 1628); and sections 8-15 in 1630.

_Elenchus: Historia Americæ sive Novus orbis_, 1634 (three issues). This is a table of the Contents to the edition which Merian was selling in 1634 under a collective title.

The foregoing enumeration makes no recognition of the almost innumerable varieties caused by combination, which sometimes pass for new editions. Some of the editions of the same date are usually called “counterfeits;” and there are doubts, even, if some of those here named really deserve recognition as distinct editions.[202]

While there is distinctive merit in De Bry’s collection, which caused it to have a due effect in its day on the progress of geographical knowledge,[203] it must be confessed that a certain meretricious reputation has become attached to the work as the test of a collector’s assiduity, and of his supply of money, quite disproportioned to the relative use of the collection in these days to a student. This artificial appreciation has no doubt been largely due to the engravings, which form so attractive a feature in the series, and which, while they in many cases are the honest rendering of genuine sketches, are certainly in not a few the merest fancy of some designer.[204]

There are several publications of the De Brys sometimes found grouped with the _Voyages_ as a part, though not properly so, of the series. Such are Las Casas’ _Narratio regionum Indicarum_; the voyages of the “Silberne Welt,” by Arthus von Dantzig, and of Olivier van Noort;[205] the _Rerum et urbis Amstelodamensium historia_ of Pontanus, with its Dutch voyages to the north; and the _Navigations aux Indes par les Hollandois_.[206]

Another of De Bry’s editors, Gasper Ens, published in 1680 his _West-unnd-Ost Indischer Lustgart_, which is a summary of the sources of American history.[207]

There are various abridgments of De Bry. The earliest is Ziegler’s _America_, Frankfort, 1614,[208] which is made up from the first nine parts of the German _Grands Voyages_. The _Historia antipodum, oder Newe Welt_ (1631), is the first twelve parts condensed by Johann Ludwig Gottfried, otherwise known as Johann Phillippe Abelin, who was, in Merian’s day, a co-laborer on the _Voyages_. He uses a large number of the plates from the larger work.[209] The chief rival collection of De Bry is that of Hulsius, which is described elsewhere.[210]

Collections now became numerous. Conrad Löw’s _Meer oder Seehanen Buch_ was published at Cologne in 1598.[211] The Dutch Collection of Voyages, issued by Cornelius Claesz, appeared in uniform style between 1598 and 1603, but it never had a collective title. It gives the voyages of Cavendish and Drake.[212]

It was well into the next century (1613) when Purchas began his publications, of which there is an account elsewhere.[213] Hieronymus Megiser’s _Septentrio novantiquus_ was published at Leipsic in 1613. In a single volume it gave the Zeni and later accounts of the North, besides narratives pertaining to New France and Virginia.[214] The _Journalen van de Reysen op Oostindie_ of Michael Colijn, published at Amsterdam in 1619, is called by Muller[215] the first series of voyages published in Dutch with a collective title. It includes, notwithstanding the title, Cavendish, Drake, and Raleigh. Another Dutch folio, Herckmans’ _Der Zeevaert lof_, etc. (Amsterdam, 1634), does not include any American voyages.[216] The celebrated Dutch collection, edited by Isaac Commelin, at Amsterdam, and known as the _Begin en Voortgangh van de Oost-Indische Compagnie_, would seem originally to have included, among its voyages to the East and North,[217] those of Raleigh and Cavendish; but they were later omitted.[218]

The collection of Thevenot was issued in 1663; but this has been described elsewhere.[219] The collection usually cited as Dapper’s was printed at Amsterdam, 1669-1729, in folio (thirteen volumes). It has no collective title, but among the volumes are two touching America,—the _Beschrijvinge_ of Montanus,[220] and Nienhof’s _Brasiliaansche Zee-en Lantreize_.[221] A small collection, _Recueil de divers voyages faits en Africa et en l’Amérique_,[222] was published in Paris by Billaine in 1674. It includes Blome’s Jamaica, Laborde on the Caribs, etc. Some of the later American voyages were also printed in the second edition of a Swedish _Reesa-book_, printed at Wysingzborg in 1674, 1675.[223] The Italian collection, _Il genio vagante_, was printed at Parma in 1691-1693, in four volumes.

_An Account of Several Voyages_ (London, 1694) gives Narborough’s to Magellan’s Straits, and Marten’s to Greenland.

The important English _Collection of Voyages and Travels_ which passes under the name of its publisher, Churchill, took its earliest form in 1704, appearing in four volumes; but was afterwards increased by two additional volumes in 1733, and by two more in 1744,—these last, sometimes called the _Oxford Voyages_, being made up from material in the library of the Earl of Oxford. It was reissued complete in 1752. It has an introductory discourse by Caleb Locke; and this, and some other of its contents, constitutes the _Histoire de la navigation_, Paris, 1722.[224]

John Harris, an English divine, had compiled a _Collection of Voyages_ in 1702 which was a rival of Churchill’s, differing from it in being an historical summary of all voyages, instead of a collection of some. Harris wrote the Introduction; but it is questionable how much else he had to do with it.[225] It was revised and reissued in 1744-1748 by Dr. John Campbell, and in this form it is often regarded as a supplement to Churchill.[226] It was reprinted in two volumes, folio, with continuations to date, in 1764.[227]

The well-known Dutch collection (_Voyagien_) of Vander Aa was printed at Leyden in 1706, 1707. It gives voyages to all parts of the world made between 1246 and 1693. He borrows from Herrera, Acosta, Purchas, De Bry, and all available sources, and illuminates the whole with about five hundred maps and plates. In its original form it made twenty-eight, sometimes thirty, volumes of small size, in black-letter, and eight volumes in folio, both editions being issued at the same time and from the same type. In this larger form the voyages are arranged by nations; and it was the unsold copies of this edition which, with a new general title, constitutes the edition of 1727. In the smaller form the arrangement is chronological. In the folio edition the voyages to Spanish America previous to 1540 constitute volumes three and four; while the English voyages, to 1696, are in volumes five and six.[228]

In 1707 Du Perier’s _Histoire universelle des voyages_ had not so wide a scope as its title indicated, being confined to the early Spanish voyages to America;[229] the proposed subsequent volumes not having been printed. An English translation, under Du Perier’s name, was issued in London in 1708;[230] but when reissued in 1711, with a different title, it credited the authorship to the Abbé Bellegarde.[231] In 1711, also, Captain John Stevens published in London his _New Collection of Voyages_; but Lawson’s Carolina and Cieza’s Peru were the only American sections.[232] In 1715 the French collection known as Bernard’s _Recueil de voiages au Nord_, was begun at Amsterdam. A pretty wide interpretation is given to the restricted designation of the title, and voyages to California, Louisiana, the Upper Mississippi (Hennepin), Virginia, and Georgia are included.[233] Daniel Coxe, in 1741, united in one volume _A Collection of Voyages_, three of which he had already printed separately, including Captain James’s to the Northwest. A single volume of a collection called _The American Traveller_ appeared in London in 1743.[234]

The collection known as _Astley’s Voyages_ was published in London in four volumes in 1745-1747; the editor was John Green, whose name is sometimes attached to the work. It gives the travels of Marco Polo, but has nothing of the early voyages to America,[235]—these being intended for later volumes, were never printed. These four volumes were translated, with some errors and omissions, into French, and constitute the first nine volumes of the Abbé Prevost’s _Histoire générale des voyages_, begun in Paris in 1746, and completed, in twenty quarto volumes, in 1789.[236] An octavo edition was printed (1749-1770) in seventy-five volumes.[237] It was again reprinted at the Hague in twenty-five volumes quarto (1747-1780), with considerable revision, following the original English, and with Green’s assistance; besides showing some additions. The Dutch editor was P. de Hondt, who also issued an edition in Dutch in twenty-one volumes quarto,—including, however, only the first seventeen volumes of his French edition, thus omitting those chiefly concerning America.[238] A small collection of little moment, _A New Universal Collection of Voyages_, appeared in London in 1755.[239] De Brosses’ Histoire des navigations aux terres australes depuis 1501 (Paris, 1756), two volumes quarto, covers Vespucius, Magellan, Drake, and Cavendish.[240]

Several English collections appeared in the next few years; among which are _The World Displayed_ (London, 1759-1761), twenty vols. 16mo,—of which seven volumes are on American voyages, compiled from the larger collections,[241]—and _A Curious Collection of Travels_ (London, 1761) is in eight volumes, three of which are devoted to America.[242]

The Abbé de la Porte’s _Voyageur François_, in forty-two volumes, 1765-1795 (there are other dates), may be mentioned to warn the student of its historical warp with a fictitious woof.[243] John Barrows’ _Collection of Voyages_ (London, 1765), in three small volumes, was translated into French by Targe under the title of _Abrégé chronologique_. John Callender’s _Voyages to the Terra australis_ (London, 1766-1788), three volumes, translated for the first time a number of the narratives in De Bry, Hulsius, and Thevenot. It gives the voyages of Vespucius, Magellan, Drake, Galle, Cavendish, Hawkins, and others.[244] Dodsley’s _Compendium of Voyages_ was published in the same year (1766) in seven volumes.[245] The _New Collection of Voyages_, generally referred to as Knox’s, from the publisher’s name, appeared in seven volumes in 1767, the first three volumes covering American explorations.[246] In 1770 Edward Cavendish Drake’s _New Universal Collection of Voyages_ was published at London. The narratives are concise, and of a very popular character.[247] David Henry, a magazinist of the day, published in 1773-1774 _An Historical Account of all the Voyages Round the World by English Navigators_, beginning with Drake and Cavendish.[248]

La Harpe issued in Paris, 1780-1801, in thirty-two volumes,—Comeyras editing the last eleven,—his _Abrégé de l’histoire générale des voyages_, which proved a more readable and popular book than Prévost’s collection. There have been later editions and continuations.[249]

Johann Reinhold Forster made a positive contribution to this field of compilation when he printed his _Geschichte der Entdeckungen und Schifffahrten im Norden_ at Frankfort in 1785.[250] He goes back to the earliest explorations, and considers the credibility of the Zeno narrative. He starts with Gomez for the Spanish section. A French collection by Berenger, _Voyages faits autour du monde_ (Paris, 1788-1789), is very scant on Magellan, Drake, and Cavendish. A collection was published in London (1789) by Richardson on the voyages of the Portuguese and Spaniards during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Mavor’s _Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries_ (London, 1796-1802), twenty-five volumes, is a condensed treatment, which passed to other editions in 1810 and 1813-1815.

A standard compilation appeared in John Pinkerton’s _General Collection of Voyages_ (London, 1808-1814), in seventeen volumes,[251] with over two hundred maps and plates, repeating the essential English narratives of earlier collections, and translating those from foreign languages afresh, preserving largely the language of the explorers. Pinkerton, as an editor, was learned, but somewhat pedantic and over-confident; and a certain agglutinizing habit indicates a process of amassment rather than of selection and assimilation. Volumes xii., xiii., and xiv. are given to America; but the operations of the Spaniards on the main, and particularly on the Pacific coast of North America, are rather scantily chronicled.[252]

In 1808 was begun, under the supervision of Malte-Brun and others, the well-known _Annales des voyages_, which was continued to 1815, making twenty-five volumes. A new series, _Nouvelles annales des voyages_, was begun in 1819. The whole work is an important gathering of original sources and learned comment, and is in considerable part devoted to America. A French _Collection abrégée des voyages_, by Bancarel, appeared in Paris in 1808-1809, in twelve volumes.

_The Collection of the best Voyages and Travels_, compiled by Robert Kerr, and published in Edinburgh in 1811-1824, in eighteen octavo volumes, is a useful one, though the scheme was not wholly carried out. It includes an historical essay on the progress of navigation and discovery by W. Stevenson. It also includes among others the Northmen and Zeni voyages, the travels of Marco Polo and Galvano, the African discoveries of the Portuguese. The voyages of Columbus and his successors begin in vol. iii.; and the narratives of these voyages are continued through vol. vi., though those of Drake, Cavendish, Hawkins, Davis, Magellan, and others come later in the series.

The _Histoire générale des voyages_, undertaken by C. A. Walkenaer in 1826, was stopped in 1831, after twenty-one octavos had been printed, without exhausting the African portion.

The early Dutch voyages are commemorated in Bennet and Wijk’s _Nederlandsche Ontdekkingen in America_, etc., which was issued at Utrecht in 1827,[253] and in their _Nederlandsche Zeereizen_, printed at Dordrecht in 1828-1830, in five volumes octavo. It contains Linschoten, Hudson, etc.

Albert Montémont’s _Bibliothèque universelle des voyages_ was published in Paris, 1833-1836, in forty-six volumes.

G. A. Wimmer’s _Die Enthüllung des Erdkreises_ (Vienna, 1834), five volumes octavo, is a general summary, which gives in the last two volumes the voyages to America and to the South Seas.[254]

In 1837 Henri Ternaux-Compans began the publication of his _Voyages, relations, et mémoires originaux pour servir à l’histoire de la découverte de l’Amérique_, of which an account is given on another page (see p. vi).

The collection of F. C. Marmocchi, _Raccolta di viaggi dalla scoperta del Nuevo Continente_, was published at Prato in 1840-1843, in five volumes; it includes the Navarrete collection on Columbus, Xeres on Pizarro, and other of the Spanish narratives.[255] The last volume of a collection in twelve volumes published in Paris, _Nouvelle bibliothèque des voyages_, is also given to America.

The Hakluyt Society in London began its valuable series of publications in 1847, and has admirably kept up its work to the present time, having issued its volumes generally under satisfactory editing. Its publications are not sold outside of its membership, except at second hand.[256]

Under the editing of José Ferrer de Couto and José March y Labores, and with the royal patronage, a _Historia de la marina real Española_ was published in Madrid, in two volumes, 1849 and 1854. It relates the early voyages.[257] Édouard Charton’s _Voyageurs anciens et modernes_ was published in four volumes in Paris, 1855-1857; and it passed subsequently to a new edition.[258]

A summarized account of the Portuguese and Spanish discoveries, from Prince Henry to Pizarro, was published in German by Theodor Vogel, and also in English in 1877.

A _Nouvelle histoire des voyages_, by Richard Cortambert, is the latest and most popular presentation of the subject, opening with the explorations of Columbus and his successors; and Édouard Cat’s _Les grandes découvertes maritimes du treizième au seizième siècle_ (Paris, 1882) is another popular book.

NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL

HISTORY OF AMERICA