Purchas' labors found recognition abroad in the well known Relation de divers voyages, Paris, 1663-96, 5 parts, by Melchisedech Thévenot, formed mainly with a view to reproduce the best portions of Hakluyt and his successor, while adding some unpublished narratives. Thévenot appears to have been particularly well fitted for such undertakings. A savant, and somewhat of a diplomatist, he was for eight years in charge of the Royal Library at Paris, dying at his post in 1692, at the age of 71. The selection of his material gives evidence of good judgment; yet the arrangement and other points may be questioned.
Another reproduction, and a continuation of the two great English collections, was offered some years later by John Harris, Navigantium atque Itinerantium Bibliotheca: or, a Compleat Collection of Voyages and Travels; London, 1705, 2 vols, folio, with copper-plates and maps. One of its chief aims being to repair the many omissions that had become apparent in the original works, the first volume is devoted to the same period as Purchas' collection, while introducing a number of additional voyages. Its five books refer respectively to circumnavigation, to Asia, to Africa, to the north and north-east parts of the globe, and to America, the latter embracing one third more narratives than Purchas. The mappemonde places the strait of Anian above the island of California, but on the American map this is not marked. The second volume, relating to voyages and travels after this time, chiefly by Englishmen, is less distinct and careful in its arrangement. Books i. and ii. cover Russia, Asia, and the Levant; book iii., Europe; and book iv., America. The latter includes only the buccaneer expeditions, Dampier's voyage, and explorations in the Mississippi and Canada regions. A varied appendix concludes the volume. According to Green, of the Astley collection, John Harris, who is styled an A. M., and Fellow of the Royal Society, had little or nothing to do with the work besides writing the introductory on the origin and emigration of races, and on the progress of navigation. Four hundred authors are claimed to have been included in the text, in abridged or compiled form. Rich, Bib. Amer., vol. i. 9, remarks that "it appears to have been got up in competition with Churchill's Collection;" but it is much more general in its scope. Of undoubted value it was reissued in 1743-4, with numerous corrections and additions, and reprinted in 1764.
VAN DER BOS, VANDER AA, CHURCHILL.
A book typical of its nationality is Leeven en Daaden Der Doorluchtigste Zee-Helden, Amsterdam, 1676, by Lambert van der Bos or Bosch, wherein are given the biographies of naval heroes from Zeno down, but of course with particular prominence to those of Holland, and foremost among them Admiral Ruyter, to whose son the dedication is addressed. While entering into the biography and political events connected with their lives the object is mainly to describe naval expeditions and encounters in various zones, and to this end tend also the plates. Columbus, Vespucci, Drake, Cavendish, and some of the searchers for the north-west passage are those touching my field who have been accorded a comparatively small space. Despite the laudable object of the book, to place before the people their chief glories, the author feels it necessary to bring forward the now well worn excuse that to the solicitation of persons interested in the subject was due the publishing of what his own inclination had led him to prepare. The German translation of Nürnberg, 1681, is an abnormally stout little volume, with an appendix by Erasmus.
Naaukeurige versameling der gedenkwaardigste Reysen naar Oost en West-Indien, Leyden, 1706-7, is a black-letter book of 30 volumes 12mo, issued by Pieter vander Aa, and embracing voyages to all parts of the globe from 1246 to 1693. Interspersed are compilations of minor expeditions, and of political affairs, apparently with a view to cover some of the many chronologic and geographic gaps in the regular series of narratives, and to form a complete historic review; but this effort is merely spasmodic and serves rather to expose the haste of the editor in not consulting more authorities, or in doing so carelessly. In addition to the incompleteness must be noted the lack of order in chapters as well as divisions, distinct and disconnected narratives being not unfrequently jumbled under inappropriate headings. The matter relating to America is, in accordance with the original though neglected plan, scattered throughout the set, in fair proportion for the earlier periods at least. This applies particularly to the northern Spanish colonies, for which the period from Columbus to Cortés is pretty fully told, chiefly from Herrera. Acosta and Marquette are given in abbreviated form. After 1526 this region receives little notice beyond the relation of a few voyages from Purchas, such as Ulloa, Chilton, Drake, and Cavendish, the latest date being 1595. The numerous copper-plates and maps are an attractive feature as may be judged from the fact that De Bry had been largely borrowed from. His text has also been used to some extent, Meusel, Bib. Hist., tom. ii. pt. i. 336, going so far as to say that all belongs to De Bry; but this is an exaggeration, for most of the text can readily be traced to Herrera, Hakluyt, De Barros, and others. A revised edition of this work was published in 1727 as De Aanmerkenswaardigste en Alomberoemde Zee- and Landreizen, folio, 8 volumes bound in 4. The same black-letter type and plates are preserved, but the arrangement differs, each set being in chronological order, and each narrative in a separately paged section. The first two volumes relate to Portuguese voyages toward the East India region; the next two to Spanish voyages up to 1540, to both hemispheres though chiefly to America; the two following to similar English voyages, till 1696; and the last two volumes to those of other nations, and to narratives supplementary to the preceding. The Portuguese division is chiefly made up from De Barros and De Couto, and the following Spanish from Herrera. Volume iii., bearing on the title-page the portraits of Columbus, Vespucci, Magellan, and Ponce de Leon, opens with the voyages of the great admiral, and continues with expeditions and events in Tierra Firme, the Antilles, Nicaragua, and Florida, concluding with Grijalva's discovery of New Spain. The next volume is almost wholly devoted to Cortés, and events in connection with his conquest and rule, alternating with sections on contemporary expeditions under Magellan, Narvaez, Godoy, Loaisa, and Cabot. In the following set, obtained chiefly from Hakluyt, Frobisher's voyages are the first to touch America, followed by Drake's and other circumnavigations and the settlement of the English American colonies. In volumes vii. and viii. we find Verrazano, Pizarro, and Soto, Dutch and French expeditions to South and North America, including P. Marquette, and extracts from Benzoni and Acosta. On the title-page Vander Aa chooses to announce that the collection is based on the German works of I. L. Gottfried, but largely augmented with material from his originals and from later authorities. This affectation can be regarded only as an advertisement.
A Collection of Voyages and Travels, Some now First Printed from Original Manuscripts, others Now First Published in English, is generally known by the name of Churchill, the publisher, who, in connection with Awnsham, issued the first edition in 1704, in four volumes. In 1733 it was increased by two volumes, and the reprint of 1744-7 by two more of the so-called Harleian Collection, culled from the Oxford Library, and printed by Thomas Osborne. The whole eight were reissued in 1752, and also used by foreign publishers, the introductory discourse by Caleb Locke, on the progress of navigation, being translated into French to form, with additions, two duodecimo volumes known as Histoire de la Navigation, Paris, 1722. Although neither so universal in its scope as Hakluyt's or Harris', nor so well translated and arranged, yet it stands as one of the most valuable of collections from its many rare narratives, such as the life of Columbus by his son, in vol. ii.; Gemelli Carreri's much questioned yet interesting voyage, vol. iv.; an account of the Mosquito kingdom, vol. vi., and Castell's description of America, in the Harleian Collection. A number of other pieces refer to America, as Monson's tracts, and Ovalle's history of Chile, but they do not touch my field.
PRÉVOST, GREEN, DIDOT, ROZET.
The most famous collection of voyages published in the eighteenth century is the Histoire Générale des Voyages, Paris, 1746, etc., 20 vols, 4to, edited by Abbé Antoine François Prévost d'Exiles. Provost was one of those bright bubbling geniuses whose life and writings have assisted in making the capital of La Belle France also the capital of the literary and fashionable world. In the role of a dashing young officer, he had at an early age sipped of all frivolities in that gay city, till a misdirected Cupidian barb caused him in 1719, at the age of twenty-two, to exchange the glittering uniform for the simple garb of a Benedictine. His success as a preacher again drew him into the whirl of society, and, tiring of the vows that held him bound, he cast aside the robe and retired to Holland in 1729. Already famous as a writer, he entered with ardor upon the career for which he saw himself destined, producing a number of romances, histories, biographies, and periodical works. The protection of Prince de Conti, whose almoner he became, enabled him to return to France and to obtain the robe of a secular ecclesiastic. In November 1763, while in the height of his fame, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and, regarded as dead, the scalpel of an unskilful hand cut off the life that was just returning. The most important of his many works is the Histoire des Voyages, which might indeed be pronounced of English origin. In 1745 Astley, the London publisher, began issuing with great flourish the weekly numbers of A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, edited by I. Green. Planned on a large scale, it was intended to supersede all other collections as a standard work. Every country was to be represented, and every first and leading voyage to any region was to be narrated in extenso. To avoid useless and uninteresting repetition, later and minor expeditions were to be used merely for extracts and notes, as a complement to those preceding. It was also proposed to form a compiled description of the several countries. Hakluyt and his successors were to be overhauled, and their mutilations and omissions repaired, while later narratives would be supplemented with a proportion of foreign voyages. The government was besought to grant aid to so valuable a work, but failed to comply; and the cost proving too great, the collection stopped in 1747 with the fourth volume, after covering nearly half of the proposed field by its Asiatic and African narratives. The only voyages relating to America are those by Captain Roberts, and I. Atkins, in 1721, extending from Bermuda to Brazil.
No sooner had Green's first volume appeared than the French publisher, Didot, resolved to be the means of giving France the benefit of so great a project, and Abbé Prévost's skill as an English translator being well known it was arranged that he should be the editor. Prévost did not follow the English edition implicitly, but made several alterations in text as well as arrangement, some of which were severely condemned, and corrected in a supplementary volume. He also gave perhaps too much play to the style of writing so much admired in his romances. With his seventh volume the English set was exhausted, and Prévost now continued the collection independently, introducing, with the aid of French libraries and foreign ministers, more foreign narratives than had been done by the English editor. He also improved the order by allowing several travellers to the same region to succeed one another, so as to form a continuous account. The conclusion of the set, so far as he and Didot are concerned, came with the sixteenth volume, containing the index. Soon after a seventeenth volume was added, with further matter and corrections, chiefly from the Dutch edition. Among the medley of narratives in volume xi., forming the sequel to Old World voyages, is Gemelli Carreri's journey round the world, which touches also New Spain. The New World division, covering volumes xii. to xv., begins with Columbus' voyages, and contemporary and immediately succeeding events in and round the Isthmus region, followed by the conquest of Mexico, together with a compiled description of its social and political condition under native and Spanish rule. After this comes Charlevoix' history of New France at disproportionate length, succeeded by narratives on the conquest and condition of the South American countries. The region from Florida northward is treated in a similar series, followed by north-west voyages, including those made by Spaniards on the Pacific side, particularly under Aguilar and Fonte. A description of the Antilles concludes the division, though several additional pieces are given in the supplementary volume on Vespucci, Pizarro, and Spanish South Sea voyages. This partial review shows that faults have been committed both in the arrangement and in the selection of material, due partly to haste, with a consequent confusion and repetition, and a carelessness of facts, which greatly impair the value of the work. The uniformity of style for the varying subjects and the dissertations on trifles are also to be objected to. After Didot's death the collection passed into the hands of Rozet, who caused three volumes to be added by Querlon and de Leyre. They are the best edited part of the set, according to La Harpe, and form a continuation of the voyages to the north begun in vol. xv., with a full description of the northern regions in the three parts of the world. The fine engravings, after Cochin, have aided greatly to make the first edition in quarto esteemed above others, and to make the fortune of the publishers. Two reprints, one of eighty volumes duodecimo, were issued while the publication was still progressing. The Dutch version of Hague, 1747-80, in 25 vols, 4to, begun from the English, but continued from Prévost, contains the portions omitted by Prévost in his early volumes, and several additional narratives, chiefly on the Dutch Asiatic possessions. A German translation in 21 vols 4to was issued at Leipzig in 1747-74 by Arkstee and Merkus. The editors, Kästner and Schwaben, begin with a round of abuse on Prévost's faulty production, and announce that they will follow the English original, while copying the superior French engravings. With the stoppage of Green's labors, they suddenly discover Prévost's superiority, but in adopting him as their guide for the remainder, they maintain their former division of chapters and sub-headings. The last three volumes cover Rozet's additions.
The plan of a general history of voyages outlined by Green had been projected already by the academician Du Perier de Montfraisier in his Histoire Universelle des Voyages faits par Mer & par Terre dans l'ancien & dans le nouveau Monde, Paris, 1707, wrongly ascribed to Abbé Bellegarde. Although dedicated to the duke of Burgundy, the king's father, the patronage failed to give it popularity, and the first duodecimo volume proved also the last. Beginning with an introductory on the development of navigation, he opens the narrative with Columbus and closes it with Cortés, giving in addition to the intermediate voyages, a general description of resources and nations of tropic America. The whole is brief and superficial, with particular attention to the marvellous, as indicated also by the engravings. The English hastened to give their approval by issuing a translation, but only to be superseded like Prévost's collection. If this work had anything to do with promoting Green's plan, it may be said not altogether to have failed in its aim.