Sir Francis Drake His Voyage, 1595 (Cambridge Library Collection - Hakluyt First Series)

The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. Volume 4 was edited by William Desborough Cooley, one of the founders of the Society, who stressed the importance of historical accounts to modern exploration. First published in 1849, it contains the eye-witness account by Thomas Maynard of Sir Francis Drake's last voyage across the Atlantic (1595-1596) and his failed attack on San Juan in Puerto Rico, together with a Spanish account of the attack, and an English translation. The text is accompanied by explanatory notes.