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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Entry in the Stationers' Register
Entred for his Copie under the
handes of master Doctor [Thomas]
Goad and master [Humphry] Lownes
warden The History of Virginia,
The Summer Ilands and newe England
by John Smith vjd
(Arber, Registers, IV, 121.)
Editions
THE || GENERALL HISTORIE || OF || Virginia, New-England, and the
Summer || Isles: with the names of the Adventurers, || Planters, and Governours
from their || first beginning An: 1584. to this || present 1624. || With the Proceedings
of those Severall Colonies and the Accidents that befell them in all
their || Journyes and Discoveries. || Also the Maps and Descriptions of all those ||
Countryes, their Commodities, people, || Government, Customes and Religion ||
yet knowne. || Divided into sixe Bookes || By Captaine John Smith sometymes
Governour || in those Countryes & Admirall || of New England. || London. || Printed by
I.D. and || I. H. for Michael || Sparkes. 1624. ||Folio, engraved title page and four folded maps, pp. xii, 248 [240].) (in two,
inserted after the title; A-N and P-Ii in fours. (Subtract eight pages from 248,
since sheet O was not printed.)There was but one edition, with one setting of type, but there were several
issues as listed below. To speed the printing, the manuscript was divided between
John Dawson (identified by the device on the printed title page of the 1625 issue),
who was responsible for the first, second, and third books, and John Haviland, who
printed the remaining three. (Dawson had printed the Prospectus, as has been
noted, and Haviland would print Smith's last three works.) Since it is evident that
Dawson got little more than two-fifths of the total manuscript, too many sheets
were allotted to him, with the result that O was omitted and N4 was ineptly488
filled by reprinting commendatory verses from the Description of N.E. Consult
Sabin, Dictionary, XX, 226-244, for full details regarding the various issues and the
states of the title page and the various maps; but note that the issues here listed
have been adjusted to correspond with those in the STC.Second issue, with the engraved title of 1624 followed by a printed title
that contains Dawson's device and differs only in the division into lines.Third issue, with the second state of the engraved title, which consists in the
change of the two dates 1624 to 1626, the addition of a crown to "Prince" Charles,
and the rewording "Carolus Rex" for "Carolus Princeps."Fourth issue, with the third state of the title, changing the imprint date to
1627 but leaving the date 1626 in the text.Fifth issue, with the fourth state of the title, the imprint date being changed
to 1631 (copies in the Folger and John Carter Brown libraries only).Seventh issue, the same, but with the head of King Charles re-engraved to
look older and to face the reader.A six-line Errata slip is found in a few surviving copies, pasted in regardless
of issue. In the present edition this has been appended to p. 248. It is interesting to
observe that only one error, the first, pertains to the part printed by John Dawson,
which may mean that Smith did not trouble John Haviland with his presence
during the printing.
Early:
1624.
1625.
1626.
1627.
1631.
1632.
A General Collection of Voyages and Travels ..., ed. John Pinkerton (London),
XIII.The True Travels ... [combined with] The Generall Historie of Virginia ...,
printed by William W. Gray (Richmond, Va.).Smith ... Works, 1580-1631, ed. Edward Arber (Birmingham).
The Generall Historie of Virginia ... Together with the True Travels ... and A
Sea Grammar (Captain John Smith's Travels) (Glasgow). The reprints of 1819 and
1907 combined the Generall Historie and the True Travels, which reveals sound
reasoning in the present editor's opinion. See the Introduction to the True Travels
in Vol. III, below.Captain John Smith's America: Selections from His Writings (extracts), ed. John
Lankford (New York, Evanston, Ill., and London).Captain John Smith's History of Virginia: A Selection (extracts), ed. David
Freeman Hawke (Indianapolis, Ind., and New York).
Modern:
1812.
*1819.
1884, etc.
1907.
1967.
1970.
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