HAKLUYTUS POSTUMUS OR PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMES. CONTAYNING A HISTORY OF THE WORLD, IN SEA VOYAGES & LANDE-TRAUELLS, BY ENGLISHMEN & OTHERS...IN FIVE BOOKS... by Purchas, Samue - 1626

London: William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, 1626. Five volumes. Numerous engraved maps and plates, many of which are folding. Extra engraved titlepage. For a detailed discussion of collations, see Wilberforce Eames' exhaustive treatment in Sabin. Folio. 19th-century dark green morocco, bound by F. Bedford, ornately gilt, all edges painted red and gilt. Later bookplates on front pastedowns. Several maps trimmed close, one with very slight loss at fore-edge, a few leaves in Vol. III remargined. With blank R4 in Vol. I, lacking initial blanks in volumes III and IV. Very light offsetting from plates, occasional faint foxing. A fine and handsome set. The second great collection of English voyages, expanding upon and greatly adding to the work of Hakluyt, whose manuscripts Purchas took over after Hakluyt's death. Purchas collects over twelve hundred separate narratives of explorations in every part of the world. Many of the accounts relate to the New World, especially Virginia, and one of the engraved maps is Smith's famous "Map of Virginia."

Besides the Smith Virginia map, Purchas includes two other maps of the greatest importance for North American cartography. The first of these is the "Briggs" map of North America, generally considered the first map to show California as an island. The Briggs map is also the first to note New Mexico by that name, and the first to name the Hudson River and Hudson Bay. The other notable American map is William Alexander's depiction of the Northeast, showing the coast from Massachusetts north to Newfoundland. As Burden notes, this is the first map to record many place names and is a "map of great importance."

Purchas began work on his massive collection in 1611 and published various editions of a short collection, with the similar title of "Purchas His Pilgrimage," over the next ten years. That publication, however, was merely a precursor to the present work, an entirely different book, and arguably the greatest collection of travels and voyages ever published. The first two volumes are mainly devoted to travels in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The third volume largely treats northern explorations and America. The fourth volume is almost entirely devoted to America. The fifth volume, PILGRIMAGE, is a supplement to all of the preceding parts and properly completes a set of Purchas' PILGRIMES.

A foundational work for any collection of travels and voyages. The Streeter set, which seems to have been heavily restored, sold to a private collector for $2000 in 1966. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 625/173. SABIN 66682-6. CHURCH 401A. HUTH SALE 6057. BAER MARYLAND 8. HILL 1403. STREETER SALE 36. STC 20509. ARENTS 158. JCB (3)II:196-97. BURDEN 164, 208, 214.