Theme

Travel Literature and Fictional Accounts

Featured Items

Detail from a printed book shows red and black text in Latin, geometrical sketches in the margins, and manuscript notations in the margins and underlining.

Ymago mundi

Pierre d'Ailly
circa 1483
Detail of a printed book shows engraved title page depicting women, ships, and animals. Text in Dutch.

Engelsch edelmans, zeldzaame en gedenkwaardige zee- en land-reizen

Eduward Meltons
1681
Detail of a fold-out printed map shows town square in the center, surrounding buildings, and ships at sea at the outer perimeter.

Praeclara Ferdina[n]di.

Hernán Cortés
1524
Detail of a manuscript, hand-colored map depicting the Great Lakes, scattered trees depicted on surrounding land, and text in French.

Nouvelle Découverte de plusieurs Nations Dans la Nouvelle France en l'année 1673 et 1674

Louis Joliet
1673-1674
The spine and back cover of Lettre d'une Peruvienne shows deteriorated calf binding.

Lettres d'une Peruvienne

Françoise de Graffigny
1748
Detail from a printed text a series of four illustrations that depict the journey by ship to the Isle of Pines.

The Isle of Pines

Henry Neville
1668
Detail of a printed book shows an illustration of a woman with long hair, elaborate drawings on her body, and holding a spear.

A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia.

Thomas Harriot
1590
Detail of Mundus Novus' title page which depicts two monkeys sitting by a tree, framed by plants and text in Latin.

Mundus novus

Amerigo Vespucci
1503

Related

photo of Herman Bennett
Lecture

Kings and Slaves: Diplomacy, Sovereignty, and Black Subjectivity in the Early Modern World

image of terrestrial sphere including Africa, Asia, and the Americas

Lecture on the African-European Encounter to Kick Off New JCB Initiative (and 75th Anniversary Meeting)

August 23
Black people work at a sugar mill with clouds and a palm tree outside

The Americas on Fire

See Also

Indigenous History

Cartography