Symposium and launch of Pedro Páez's History of Ethiopia, 29 March 2012
To celebrate the Society's latest publication a symposium on Pedro Páez and the First History of Ethiopia will be held at 6.00 pm on Thursday 29 March 2012 at the British Museum. The venue will be The Clore Education Centre, The Stevenson Lecture Theatre, located on the 'Lower Floor' within the British Museum (directions available at the main entrance). The meeting will proceed with a panel presentation by the three editors and the translator, followed by a discussion in which those attending may freely participate. Refreshments and a reception will follow the meeting, together with a launch of the book, copies of which will be available for purchase. The meeting will close around 8.00 pm. The Stevenson Lecture Theatre is fully wheelchair accessible. The symposium and reception are open to all at a cost of £10, payable by 19 March. For further details, together with an application form, please click here.
Maps and Society Lecture, 16 February 2012
The next meeting of the Society will be its regular contribution to the Maps and Society lecture series at 5 pm on 16 February 2012 at the Warburg Institute, Woburn Square, London, WC1H 0AB. Mr Francis Herbert will present a lecture on Maps for the Hakluyt Society, 1847-2010; or, from Cosmas to Cook and Computers. Admission is free and the meeting will be followed by refreshments.
Hakluyt Society Annual General Meeting, Annual Lecture and reception, 20 June 2012
The Society's next AGM will be held on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 and, contrary to tradition, will take place at the University of Notre Dame, London, close to Trafalgar Square. Full details will follow closer to the time.
Hakluyt Society Series I and Series II Reprints
In a major new undertaking, one which many members will consider long overdue, the Society, in conjunction with its publisher Ashgate, is making available the Society's entire back catalogue from Series I, number 1 to Series II, number 190; in fact the entire collection of 290 volumes published between the years 1847 and 2000. These fine quality hardback facsimiles of the original works, far superior to anything already on offer, are available on a print-on-demand basis at a cost of £35 per item or £31.50 if ordered in online Ebook format. The First Series was completed in October 2010, and all out of print titles in the Second Series were available in December 2010. To order these books directly from Ashgate, please click on the following links:
Pedro Páez's History of Ethiopia, 1622. Edited by Isabel Boavida, Hervé Pennec & Manuel João Ramos. Translated by Christopher J. Tribe (2 vols).
In two volumes the Hakluyt Society is delighted to offer the first English translation of the História da Etiópia by the Spanish Jesuit missionary priest Pedro Páez (1564-1622) who worked in the Portuguese missions, first in India and then in Ethiopia. The History of Ethiopia, dealing with a country long thought to be the abode of the legendary Prester John, was written in Portuguese in the last ten years of Páez's life and survives in only two manuscripts. The translation here is based on the critical edition published by the same three editors at Lisbon in 2008.
Páez's History provides not only a detailed history of the Catholic missions in Ethiopia, but also a thorough account of the country's customs, arts and religion; its political and territorial administration; and its geography and geographical exploration. The book also reworks a wide variety of documents, including the first translations of a number of Ethiopian literary texts, from royal chronicles to hagiographies. Needless to say, the work is an absolutely essential source for those interested in the history of Ethiopia. It is a study of epic proportions, and its translation represents a landmark in the history of the Hakluyt Society. Páez's text occupies a full 800 pages of the two volumes, and is supplemented by a 55-page introduction, an alphabetical historical glossary, an 18-page bibliography, and a 21-page index. It includes two maps and seventeen monochrome plates.
William Robert Broughton's Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific 1795-1798. Edited by Andrew David, with an Introduction by Barry Gough.
Edited and richly annotated by Lt Cdr Andrew David, this volume offers for the first time a complete transcript of the handwritten log kept by William Broughton on his voyage to the North Pacific (1795–98), together with supplementary letters and the journal of Broughton’s journey across Mexico. An extensive introduction by Professor Barry Gough places the voyage in its historical context. Broughton had first visited the North Pacific in 1792 in command of the brig Chatham during Vancouver’s voyage. When negotiations between Vancouver and Juan Francisco Bodega y Quadra reached an impasse, Broughton was sent back to London to seek fresh instructions, travelling across Mexico and returning to Europe in Spanish ships. Back in London in July 1793 he was appointed in command of the sloop Providence with orders to rejoin Vancouver in the Pacific, taking with him the astronomer John Crosley. The outbreak of war with France delayed Broughton’s departure until February 1795, with the result that, on reaching Hawaii, he learned that Vancouver had already sailed for England. After consulting with his officers, Broughton decided to cross the North Pacific and complete the surveys left unfinished by Cook’s third voyage and to enable Crosley to make astronomical observations. Accordingly, Broughton made for the north coast of Honshu and proceeded to examine the southernmost of the Kurile Islands before making for Macau, examining the coasts of the Japanese Islands on the way. In Macau Broughton purchased a schooner before continuing his survey. Sadly the Providence was wrecked on an uncharted reef off the Ryukyu Islands, the crew being rescued by the schooner. Broughton returned to Macau, resumed his survey in the schooner, and in her reached the head of the Gulf of Tartary and examined part of the south coast of Korea. He ended his voyage in Macau in November 1797. This 400-page volume is illustrated with nine contemporary paintings, engravings and charts, and includes twelve detailed route maps. The seven appendices include selected correspondence relating to the voyage, a variant version of Broughton's journal, biographical details of the ship's company, and notes on Japanese and Korean vessels.
The Arctic Whaling Journals of William Scoresby the Younger. Volume III. The Voyages of 1817, 1818 and 1820. Edited by C. Ian Jackson. With an Appendix by Fred M. Walker.
The third volume of Scoresby's journals, which completes this major publication event, contains the unpublished journals of Scoresby's voyages in the years 1817 to 1820. The voyage of 1817 was unsuccessful in whaling terms, but the relatively ice-free waters of the Greenland Sea provided the conditions for a renewed interest in Arctic exploration. In 1818 Scoresby broke with the Whitby shipowners and took command of the Fame in partnership with his father. This partnership lasted only briefly; Scoresby moved to Liverpool and spent the season of 1819 ashore, completing his Account of the Arctic Regions and overseeing the construction of a new ship, the Baffin. In 1820 he took the Baffin north and returned with a full ship of seventeen whales. Scoresby's journal includes detailed accounts of his landings on Jan Mayen in 1817, Spitsbergen in 1818, and the Langanes peninsula of Iceland in 1820. An appendix by Fred Walker provides a most interesting account of the design and construction of Arctic whalers. The 290-page book is illustrated with three route maps, three monochrome plates and six line drawings. A copious bibliography is provided, together with conversion tables and a glossary of nautical terms.
Updated: 28 December 2011
Please send news of forthcoming events which might be of interest to members of the Society to
