Voyages - Eight-Volume Set Complete Richard Hakluyt

1962 reprint, J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd. (London), eight 4 7/8 x 7 1/4 inches tall purple cloth hardcover volumes in publisher's unclipped dust jackets, dark purple lettering to spines, pattern endpapers, [v.1] xxvi, [2], 468; [v.2] xiii, 461; [v.3] xii, 387; [v.4] x, 386; [v.5] x, 355; [v.6] x, 360; [v.7] x, 400; [v.8] ix, 355 pp. (3,274 pages total.) Very slight soiling and rubbing to covers, with minor bumping to a couple of tips. A bit of staining to the fore page edges of Volume 4. Otherwise, a very good to near fine set - clean, bright and unmarked - in moderately rubbed, creased and edgeworn dust jackets which are nicely preserved and displayed in clear archival Brodart sleeves. Note that this is a heavy and oversized set, so additional postage will be required for international or priority orders. ~RCL~ [8.5P] Richard Hakluyt (1553-1616) was an English writer best known for these works on English voyages, which helped promote the colonization of North America. Originally published as Divers Voyages Touching the Discoverie of America (1582) and The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of the English Nation (1589?1600), this Everyman edition in eight volumes includes all the successive collections of accounts of voyages and discoveries in the order Hakluyt published them. Richard Hakluyt was not a great seafarer; the farthest he traveled was France. Yet he had a monumental influence in transforming Britain into a great seafaring nation. Hakluyt encouraged explorers to discover the Northwest Passage to the Pacific and to expand British presence in India. He was not just a cheerleader for empire-building, but supplied valuable information to make it possible, including this work.