In Nouvelle Bibliothèque des Voyages anciens et modernes, Paris, 12 vols, 8vo, with maps and engravings, P. Duménil, editor, presents a selection of the most noted and interesting voyages in full and abridged form, the latter rendered in attractive style. After an introductory essay on the progress of exploration by Duponchel, the series begins with circumnavigations; Anson, Byron, and Bougainville occupying the first volume, while Cook takes ii. to v. In vi. are given the narratives of La Pérouse and five other French voyagers between 1800 and 1840. The three following volumes embrace African travel, while Asia and Egypt combined find a place in x. and xi. Vol. xii. treats of Columbus, Cortés, and Pizarro, followed by minor and abridged narratives on north and north-east America and the Levant.
Historia de la Marina Real Española, Madrid, 1849 and 1854, 2 vols, 4to, profusely illustrated, forms a useful subdivision of voyages, by giving a history of all expeditions performed not only by the Spanish royal navy, but in the interest of the government. Of the two books in volume i. the first is almost wholly devoted to Columbus, while the second is occupied with Isthmian expeditions, the conquest of Mexico, and Magellan's circumnavigation. Volume ii. begins with Garay's expedition to Pánuco, and passes on to Molucca voyages from Spain and Mexico, to Pizarro's conquest, and Cortés' expeditions in the Pacific. The last three books, vii. to ix., cover the remainder of the sixteenth, and the whole of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries respectively. The measures connected with Drake's raid on the Spanish main form a striking feature in the seventh book, and Vizcaino's voyage opens the next. In the eighteenth century are given the several Mexican voyages to the north-west Pacific, from the time of Perez to that of the Sutil y Mexicana; and in the battle of Trafalgar is found the apt finale to a history intended to record the glories of the Spanish fleets. Although useful for the field it covers, the work shows little investigation or critique. The editors were José Terrer de Couto, who prepared the first 600 pages, and José March y Labores, who finished the work. The dedication to the king, which is almost republican in its straightforward tenor, bears the names of Vila and Manini, proprietors.
Man upon the Sea; or, a History of Maritime Adventure, Exploration, and Discovery from the Earliest Ages, by Frank B. Goodrich, Philadelphia, 1858, 8vo, while presenting a most complete and useful history, lays claim to no particular research, but depends for popularity on the prominence given to curious facts, striking incidents, and alluring narratives, pleasingly illustrated with cuts. Beginning with a review of early notions on geography, it considers the beginning of navigation, including the development of shipbuilding, and enters upon the regular history of voyages in the Phœnician era, carrying it to the present time in as chronologic an order as the narrative will allow. Section iii. covers the period from Columbus to Magellan, and the next two sections are devoted to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, with the northern voyages and the circumnavigations, while vi. is chiefly occupied with the Arctic voyages and the laying of the Atlantic cable. An abridgment of the book appeared as The Sea and her Famous Sailors, London, 1859, 12mo.
Nuevo Viajero Universal, Enciclopedia de Viajes Modernos, Madrid, 1859, 5 vols, 4to, edited by N. Fernandez Cuesta, and forming a part of the Biblioteca Ilustrada of Gaspar and Roig, is a collection of the latest voyages, profusely illustrated, and so selected and arranged as to give a description of all parts of the world, with more or less completeness. The volumes are equally distributed among the five continents in the order of Africa, Asia, America, Europe, and Oceania. North America is covered by six narratives referring respectively to the western United States, Canada, California, Mexico, and Central America, while five others describe South America. The account of California is extracted from Bryant; that of Guatemala and adjoining regions from Morelet; and of Mexico from Basil Hall and Zamacois. Each narrative has its own division and chapters.
Perhaps no individual navigators have done so much for the extension of coast geography in America in early times as the buccaneers, who, ever flitting about in quest of Spanish gold, and ever in need of a refuge from stern pursuers, left no available harbor or point on the main unnoticed. Nor were they chary of imparting the information, but published it freely in their narratives for the benefit alike of friend and foe. Among the special works compiled from these as well as the more secret Spanish documents was that of Sharp, which was specially devoted to the Pacific coast. A valuable supplement to this is An Appendix to Sharp's South Sea Waggoner, translated out of the original Spanish, a MS. folio of 145 pages, giving sailing directions from Chile to California, with a minute description of the coast, reefs, and harbors, explained by the seventy-two rude charts of the appendix. These are particularly interesting, from the fact that they are relics of a collection of two to three hundred original charts, collected by the traveller Nic Witsen, and valued by him at over twenty thousand gulden, partly perhaps because they indicated the localities where Spanish vessels had sunk with their treasures. He had sold them to the king of Spain, but they perished in a shipwreck while on the way to Madrid. So runs the story told in the autographic preface in Dutch, signed by Witsen at Amsterdam, 1692.
The first important work of this class, issued in the United States, was the American Coast Pilot of Blunt, which has grown in size and importance with every succeeding edition since 1796, when it appeared at Newburyport as a small 8vo of 122 pages, prepared by Captain Furlong. Since 1815 the Blunts, father and son, have had control of it, improving and adding until the twenty-first edition came out as a closely printed royal 8vo of 926 pages. This volume, after an introduction on winds, currents, and other general matter, begins its description of coast line and harbors at Newfoundland, and carries it to the north-east coast of South America, giving also a full account of the Antilles. The part relating to the United States occupies about half the volume. An instance of the interest manifested by the Spanish government in navigation is furnished by the Derrotero de las islas Antillas de las Costas de Tierra firme y del seno Mexicano, Madrid, 1810, sm. 4to, prepared by the Direccion de Hidrografía of Madrid as a hand-book to accompany their charts. The Antilles are first described, then the mainland northward to Florida, pages 340-455 being devoted to the section between Portobello and San Bernando. Several improved editions were published in Spain as well as America; that of Mexico, 1825, being noticeable, as revised by Guadalupe Victoria, the first president of Mexico. As a valuable complement to the preceding coast guides may be regarded A Directory for the Navigation of the Pacific Ocean, London, 1851, 1 vol. in 2, 8vo, by Alexander G. Findlay. It is equally thorough and well arranged, with many statistical facts in connection with harbors. The first part relates to the west coast of America, the second to Asia and the Australian groups.
TERNAUX-COMPANS, BERCHTOLD, CAMUS.
Voyages, Relations et Mémoires originaux pour servir à l'Histoire de la Découverte de l'Amérique, by Henri Ternaux-Compans, Paris, 1837-41, 20 vols, 8vo, in 2 series of 10 vols each, is one of the valuable collections of original documents or reprints which have of late years been discovered by zealous students and published at their own cost, or with the aid of the rapidly increasing number of historical societies. Of the first series, only the last two volumes are original publications, the rest being reprints of rare German, Portuguese, and Spanish works, chiefly of the sixteenth century. Several of them refer to the Pacific States, as Relation véridique de la Conquête de Pérou, etc., by Xerez in vol. iv., which also relates to the discovery of Panamá; Relation de Cabeça de Vaca, vol. vii., which runs through northern Mexico; Cruautés Horribles des Conquérants du Mexique, by Ixtlilxochitl, vol. viii.; the valuable Relation du Voyage de Cibola, vol. ix., giving an account of the first entry into New Mexico; Recueil de Pièces Relatives à la Conquête du Mexique, vol. x. The second series is even more valuable and interesting, as all the volumes publish selections from the manuscripts collected by Muñoz for his Historia del Nuevo Mundo, and partly issued by Kingsborough in his large work. Those relating to the Pacific States are, Zurita, Rapport, vol. xi.; Ixtlilxochitl, Histoire des Chichimèques, vol. xii., xiii.; Oviedo, Histoire de Nicaragua, vol. xiv.; Recueil de Pièces sur le Mexique, vol. xvi.; Id., sur la Floride, vol. xx., which contains letters on New Spain. Only a limited number of copies were printed. In connection with it was formed the Bibliothèque Américaine, Paris, 1837, a valuable addition, particularly in reference to Spanish and German works. Ternaux-Compans' Archives des Voyages and Recueil de Documents, both published in Paris in 1840, 8vo, have also important material on America.
From the preceding review it will be seen that even the largest collections of voyages failed to keep pace with the extension of maritime progress, and recorded at the most the leading undertakings of a few nations, complemented by references to a certain number of minor ones. This gap was partly covered by booksellers' catalogues; but even their lists were for a long time incomplete, and surpassed in many instances by those appended to their works by authors. Berchtold, for instance, in his Essay to Travellers, London, 1789, gives a full list of European travels arranged under countries. A more extensive list for voyage narratives was that of Reuss, issued during the eighteenth century, and Stuck's, published at Halle, 1784-7. But these were mere catalogues with few or no notes to indicate contents or character of books; and this regardless of the admirable example and aid given by Guill. Fr. de Bure, to whom is due the credit of issuing the first descriptive bibliography, the Bibliographique Instructive, Paris, 1763-8, 7 vols, 8vo, the germ of which lies in his imperfect Musæum Typographicam, Paris, 1755. The work is perhaps needlessly profuse in its notes, but nevertheless of some value, even now, beside the many modern works of this class to which it may be said to have given rise. It devotes considerable space to voyages, and among other collections it treats pretty fully of De Bry's. The interest manifested in this set, however, and the confusion which its numerous partial editions had created, warranted the special Mémoire sur la Collection des Grand et Petits Voyages, et sur la Collection de Thévenot, Paris, 1802, prepared by A. G. Camus. This gives not only a satisfactory amount of De Bry for the collector, but a review of its composition for the benefit of students. It does not excel De Bure's in details of contents, but surpasses it in scientific treatment and in critique, presenting quite a model analysis. Camus had at first prepared a briefer memoir which l'Institut National induced him to elaborate and publish at its expense, with a similar notice of Thévenot's collection. Camus was the author of a voyage narrative, and a noted work in connection with his profession of the law.
While Camus was yet occupied with his memoir, a more extensive work of the same class had been undertaken by G. Boucher de la Richarderie, who after ten years of research among the various literary deposits in Paris, aided by translators and others, issued the Bibliothèque Universelle des Voyages, Paris, 1808, 6 vols, 8vo. Despite the labor bestowed the work is far from perfect, either in its titles or notes, and the number of omissions becomes more and more apparent when later catalogues are brought into comparison. The arrangement, however, displays considerable judgment, beginning with a review of voyage narratives and travelling guides in general, and proceeding with accounts of voyages during the classic and middle ages. After this come collections and general histories of voyages and circumnavigations, followed by the main subject, an account of individual voyages, arranged chronologically under the part of the world, the region, or the country to which they are directed. Works on geography, natural history, antiquities, and conquests are excluded, but not purely descriptive accounts of a country. In most cases only the title of the work is given, in French and in the original, with a sprinkling of notices on various editions, their rarity and character, but at times a more or less lengthy review of the contents is presented in order to furnish from the best works a concise account of the different countries. The book is accordingly a combination of bibliography and historio-geographic description of the world. The value of descriptive extracts in such a work is questionable, and a more satisfactory treatment, in consonance with its mission, would have been to present a larger proportion of bibliographic notes, thus increasing its value.