A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels
By Robert Kerr
VOLUME: I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII | VIII | IX | X | XI | XII | XIII | XIV | XV | XVI | XVII | XVIII
VOLUME I.
Voyages and Travels of Discovery, from the Era of Alfred, King of England, in the Ninth Century, to the Era of Don Henry, Prince of Portugal, at the commencement of the Fifteenth Century.
Discoveries in the time of Alfred, King of England, in the Ninth Century of the Christian Era.
Discovery of Iceland by the Norwegians, in the Ninth Century
Voyages of Ohthere to the White Sea and the Baltic, in the Ninth Century
Remarks on the situation of Sciringes-heal and Haethum, by J. R. Forster
Voyage of Wulfstein in the Baltic, as related to King Alfred
Section IV. [1]
[1] By error of the press, Sect, IV. has been numerically repeated.
Voyage of Sighelm to India, in the reign of Alfred, King of
Travels of John Erigena to Athens, in the Ninth-Century
Geography of the known World, in the Ninth Century, as described by King Alfred
VII. Travels of Andrew Leucander, in the Eleventh Century
Voyage of Swanus to Jerusalem, in 1052
Voyage of three Ambassadors from England to Constantinople, about 1056
Pilgrimage of Alured to Jerusalem, in 1058
Pilgrimage of Ingulphus to Jerusalem, in 1064
Original Discovery of Greenland by the Icelanders, in the Ninth Century
Early Discovery of Winland, or America, by the Icelanders, about the year 1001
Travels of two Mahometans into India and China, in the Ninth Century
Travels of Rabbi Benjamin from Spain to China, in the Twelfth Century
Travels of an Englishman in Tartary, in 1243
Sketch of the Revolutions in Tartary
Travels of John de Piano Carpini, in 1246
Travels of W. de Rubruquis, about 1253
Travels of Haitho, Prince of Armenia, in 1254
Travels of Marco Polo into China and the East; from A.D. 1260 to 1295
Travels of Oderic of Portenau, in 1318
Travels of Sir John Mandeville, in 1322
Itinerary of Pegoletti, between Asof and China, in 1355
Voyages of Nicolo and Antonio Zeno, in 1380
Travels of Schildtberger, in 1394
Travels of the Ambassadors of Shah Rokh, in 1419
Voyage and Shipwreck of Quirini, in 1431
Travels of Josaphat Barbaro, in 1436
PREFACE.
In this enlightened age, when every department of science and literature is making rapid progress, and knowledge of every kind excites uncommon interest, and is widely diffused, this attempt to call the attention of the public to a Systematic Arrangement of Voyages and Travels, from the earliest period of authentic history to the present time, ought scarcely to require any apology. Yet, on appearing before the tribunal of public opinion, every author who has not cherished an unreasonable estimate of his own qualifications, must necessarily be impressed with considerable anxiety respecting the probable reception of his work; and may be expected to offer some account of the plan and motives of what he proposes to lay before the public.
The present work is the first of the kind that has ever been attempted in Scotland: and though, as already avowed in the Prospectus, the Editor has no wish to detract from the merits of similar publications, it might appear an overstrained instance of false delicacy to decline a statement of the circumstances which, he presumes to hope, will give some prospect of the work being received with attention and indulgence, perhaps with favour. It certainly is the only General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels that has been hitherto attempted in the English language, upon any arrangement that merits the appellation of a systematic plan. And hence, should the plan adopted be found only comparatively good, in so far the system of arrangement must be pronounced the best that has been as yet devised. If this be conceded, and the fact is too obvious to require extended proof or minute elucidation, the Editor shall not feel mortified even if his arrangement may be considerably improved hereafter.
The only work on the subject that has the smallest pretensions to system, and that is fanciful, involved, irregular, abrupt, and obscure, is PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMS. Even admitting the plan of that work to be in itself excellent; although it may be a General History, so far as it extends, it certainly is in no respect a Complete Collection of Voyages and Travels. In a very large proportion of that curious work, it is the author who speaks to the reader, and not the traveller. In the present work, wherever that could possibly be accomplished, it has uniformly been the anxious desire of the Editor that the voyagers and travellers should tell their own story: In that department of his labour, his only object has been to assume the character of interpreter between them and the readers, by translating foreign or antiquated language into modern English. Sometimes, indeed, where no record remains of particular voyages and travels, as written by the persons who performed them, the Editor has necessarily had recourse to their historians. But, on every such occasion, the most ancient and most authentic accessible sources have been anxiously sought after and employed. In every extensive work, it is of the utmost consequence that its various parts should be arranged upon a comprehensive and perspicuously systematic plan. This has been accordingly aimed at with the utmost solicitude in the present undertaking; and the order of its arrangement was adopted after much deliberation, and from a very attentive consideration of every general work of the same nature that could be procured. If, therefore, the systematic order on which it is conducted shall appear well adapted to the subject, after an attentive perusal and candid investigation, the Editor confidently hopes that his labours may bear a fair comparison with any similar publication that has yet been brought forward.
In the short Prospectus of this work, formerly submitted to the public, a very general enunciation only, of the heads of the intended plan, was attempted; as that was then deemed sufficient to convey a distinct idea of the nature, arrangement, and distribution of the proposed work. Unavoidable circumstances still necessarily preclude the possibility, or the propriety rather, of attempting to give a more full and complete developement of the divisions and subdivisions of the systematic arrangement which is to be pursued, and which circumstances may require some elucidation.
An extensive and minutely arranged plan was carefully devised and extended by the Editor, before one word of the work was written or compiled, after an attentive examination of every accessible former collection; That plan has been since anxiously reconsidered, corrected, altered, and extended, in the progress of the work, as additional materials occurred: yet the Editor considers that the final and public adoption of his plan, in a positively fixed and pledged systematic form, any farther than has been already conveyed in the Prospectus, would have the effect to preclude the availment of those new views of the subject which are continually afforded by additional materials, in every progressive step of preparation for the press. The number of books of voyages and travels, as well general as particular, is extremely great; and, even if the whole were at once before the Editor, it would too much distract his attention from the division or department in which he is engaged for the time, to attempt studying and abstracting every subdivision at once. The grand divisions, however, which have been already indicated in the Prospectus, and the general principles of the plan, which are there explained, are intended to be adhered to; as no reasons have been discovered, after the most attentive consideration, for any deviation from that carefully adopted arrangement, the heads of which are here repeated.
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