A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia

by Thomas Harriot, Theodor de Bry

For more than 400 years, scholars from an array of disciplines have recognized Theodor de Bry's 1590 edition of Thomas Hariot's A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia as a book whose influence shaped contemporary European perceptions of North America, as well as subsequent research on that period for centuries to come.

The book, upon which the present volume is based, is from the collections of the Library at the Mariners' Museum. It is extremely rare, containing hand-colored illustrations from the period, and is one of only three recorded copies with colored plates. This complete facsimile edition presents de Bry's exceptional engravings, based on John White's sixteenth-century watercolors, in their original hand-colored form. The book is available in paperback and as a limited cloth edition of two hundred numbered copies. Both editions are printed by the award-winning Stinehour Press.

As the first volume in de Bry's celebrated Grand Voyages, a series of publications chronicling many of the earliest expeditions to the Americas, this book, which incorporates a 1588 text by Thomas Hariot, was illustrated and published in four languages. It became for many Europeans their first glimpse of the American continent. Accompanying the Latin facsimile is an English text. The first section is modernized from earlier versions of the English, and the second part, which accompanies the plates, is newly translated from the original Latin.

In addition to a valuable introduction, the book includes two illuminating essays. The first, by Karen Ordahl Kupperman, examines the early American settlement and tells how a collaboration between the writer and mathematician Thomas Hariot and the artist John White (later governor of the Roanoke Colony) evolved into a rich study not only of English colonial life but of the Indian culture and the natural resources of the region. The second essay, by Peter Stallybrass, uncovers new information in the much studied plates and presents an intriguing theory about the creation and importance of the engravings.

This facsimile edition will appeal to students and scholars in several fields of study, from American history and ethnography to fine arts and the history of the book, and will provide the reader with the best illustration of the New World as it was first presented to the Old.

Published for the Library at the Mariner's Museum

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Renaissance, Classics, American History, School, Read For School

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1588

About the author

Thomas Harriot (1560 - 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his contributions in navigational techniques, working closely with John White to create advanced maps for navigation. While Harriot worked extensively on numerous papers on the subjects of astronomy, mathematics and navigation, he remains obscure because he published little of it, namely only The Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588). This book includes descriptions of English settlements and financial issues in Virginia at the time. He is sometimes credited with the introduction of the potato to the British Isles. Harriot was the first person to make a drawing of the Moon through a telescope, on 5 August 1609, about four months before Galileo Galilei.

After graduating from St Mary Hall, Oxford, Harriot traveled to the Americas, accompanying the 1585 expedition to Roanoke island funded by Sir Walter Raleigh and led by Sir Ralph Lane. He learned the Carolina Algonquian language from two Native Americans, Wanchese and Manteo, and could translate it, making him a vital member of the expedition. On his return to England, he worked for the 9th Earl of Northumberland.

Reviews

[Jessica]

This is a beautiful little piece of propaganda that not only invites colonial Brits to come plunder the shores of North Carolina but shows them how (here's all the things you can do with free cedar trees!). The original "Lonely Planet," Harriot's beautifully illustrated guide offers a rare visual glimpse into the desires and fears of the colonists.

[Brandon Miller]

I was reading Paul Johnson's History of the American People and its discussion of this book and the initial English American colony, and the mention of this pamphlet piqued my interest. I figured it was a PDF somewhere (I was correct!), and had to investigate. I'm so glad I did. This was marvelous. Reading it and really getting a glimpse into the minds of these men changed my understanding of what the earliest colonies were like, and more specifically, how their citizens viewed the new world. Imagine waking up one day and suddenly there's an entire continent's worth of natural resources available to anyone with the guts and brains to make something of it.
Anyway, a 5-star rating seemed too anachronistic, but I was inspired. I wrote a poem.

[Fallon Burner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this edition because the pages are so big - it certainly makes the old type style and spellings easier to read, not to mention the pictures are so much better bigger.

[Dimitri Bartels · Rating 1 out of 5]

***1.5

Terribly boring and terribly a product of its time, but I appreciated it for its linguistical value.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read for my Eng. Lit class

[Abby]

read most of it for world history

[Marin Hanna · Rating 1 out of 5]

mad boring hariot

[Capri · Rating 2 out of 5]

like whatever

[Tammy Mannarino · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a challenging read due to the old English spellings and phrasing, but well worth it to experience a 400+ year old primary source on early explorations in Virginia. Lists of plants and wildlife were at times tedious and others fascinating. It was a bit surprising that they realized at the time that native americans were dying as a result of their visits to villages. Their hosts would, at times, give them preferential treatment out of fear that their village would be "cursed" upon the visitors' departure.

[Rosemary · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an easy read. Written in 16th century English and this edition is a facsimile of orginal.