Volume 1

Travels and works of Captain John Smith, President of Virginia, and Admiral of New England / edited by Edward Arber.

  • John Smith
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Travels and works of Captain John Smith, President of Virginia, and Admiral of New England / edited by Edward Arber. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    BIBLIOGRAPHY JOHN SMITH’S published writings comprise eight books, the titles of which were as follows :—A True Relation of such Occurrences and Accidents of Note as hath hapned in Virginia since the first planting of that Colony, London, 1608. This was first attributed to a gentleman of the colony, secondly to Thomas Watson, and was not assigned to Smith until 1615. In this work no mention is made of the rescue by Pocahontas, —referred to incidentally as a child of ten, who not only for feature, countenance, and proportion greatly exceeded the rest of her countrywomen, but was “ the only nonpareil of the country.” The Relation was followed by a geographical treatise, A Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Country, Oxford, 1612,1 written by Captain Smith, edited by W[illiam] S[immonds]. Four years later appeared A Description of New England, London, 1616, which attained to the honour of a German translation in 1628. Some of the same material was used in New England Trials (written during his French captivity), London, 1620, of which a second and enlarged edition appeared in 1622. A more important work was The General History of Virginia, New England, and The Summer Isles, London, 1624, reprinted in 1626, 1627, and 1632. In this work the account of Captain Smith’s escape from the Indians in January 1608 is greatly embellished. It is perhaps no injustice to Smith to say that it was improved, for the laudable purpose of presenting Pocahontas in the most favourable light during her visit to England and the Court during the winter of 1616-1617. This improved version was naturally 1 See Madan, Early Oxford Press, p. 82. *xxvii
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