Hakluyt Society Recent News and Forthcoming Events Posted By: Richard Hakluyt About the Hakluyt Society Hakluyt Society Recent News and Forthcoming Events The Futures of Travel Editing Workshop, London, 4 July 2025 Registration is now open for the joint Hakluyt Society-Linschoten Vereeniging workshop on “The Futures of Travel Editing”, taking place at the Royal Asiatic Society on Friday 4 July 2025. Attendance is free of charge, and members are warmly invited to register via Eventbrite either for either in-person or online attendance (via Zoom). Places are limited, so early registration is advised. About the Event: The Hakluyt Society (1846) and Linschoten-Vereeniging (1908) have long spearheaded the editing and publication of historical accounts of travel, in line with their respective missions first formulated well over a century ago. Since the late twentieth century, academic and lay interest in historical travel has both reflected and responded to political and social transformations, inviting critical scrutiny of traditional narratives and increasing calls for alternative perspectives. This changing context raises urgent questions about the future(s) of travel editing. The one-day “Futures of Travel Editing” workshop aims to foster a broad discussion on the challenges, possibilities, and new directions in editing and publishing travelogues, in line with the core mission of the Hakluyt and Linschoten societies. It will be advertised to members of both societies as well as opened to the public. Sessions focus on new sources and methods, the specifics of editing accounts of non-Western travel, and attracting a more global and diverse set of proposals. Download the full programme (pdf file). 2025 AGM and Annual Lecture Wednesday 18 June 2025 The 179th Annual General Meeting of The Hakluyt Society will take place at the Royal Asiatic Society, 14 Stephenson Way, London NW1 2HD (close to Euston Station) and also by remote access to the Society’s Zoom account, at 5.15 pm (BST) on Wednesday 18 June 2025. After the AGM, the annual lecture will be given by Professor Zoltán Biedermann of University College London and his subject will be ‘Indigenous voices in the literature of travel and exploration’. The annual lecture is open to anyone interested, but those planning to attend either in person or online should contact the administration at office@hakluyt.com Latest volume in the Hakluyt Society 3rd Series (No. 44) This volume is A Scientific Voyage in the Southern Hemisphere and Around the World Executed Successively on Board the King’s Corvette Uranie and His Majesty’s Corvette La Physicienne During the Years 1817,2828, 1819, and 1820: Narrative Journal of Joseph-Paul Gaimard Commissioned Surgeon of the Marine Royal. Edited by Sylvie Brassard and John Milsom. This volume has been distributed to members starting in April 2025. Hakluyt Society Essay Competition winners for 2025 The Hakluyt Society received exceptionally high-quality submissions in the 2025 Essay Competition and thanks all entrants. We are delighted to announce this year’s results. This year’s winner of the first prize of £1250 is George Clay, Georgetown University, for his essay ‘‘The Many Lives of Francisco de Angola’. The judges commended it as ‘an excellent essay in all facets: original, bold, conceptually sharp, and written with verve and sensitivity’. Second prize of £250 was awarded to Peter Wells, University of East Anglia, for ‘“No Land Nor Ice in the Way”: The Collision of Science and Reality in the Speedwell’s Search for the Northeast Passage (1676)’ and due to the exceptional quality of this year’s entries, the judges recommended the award of an Honourable Mention to James Fox, St Andrews University, for ‘Numeracy, otherness and the invention of “civilisation” in Anglo-European travel writing, c.1660–c.1800’. Many congratulations to George, Peter, and James, who have been invited to receive their awards at the Society’s AGM on 18 June 2025. Details of how to enter the Hakluyt Society Essay Prize Competition 2026 will be announced later in the year. Hakluyt Society Studies in the History of Travel This is a separate series from the main Hakluyt Society volumes and will continue to be published by Routledge despite the main series moving to Boydell and Brewer. Professors Daniel Carey and Joan Pau Rubiés remain as the series editors. The third volume in the series has just been published, The Chronicler of China: Juan González de Mendoza, between Mission, Empire and History (16th-17th centuries) by Diego Sola. This monograph provides an analysis and contextualization of an extraordinarily successful book, the History of the Great Kingdom of China (Rome 1585), by the Spanish Augustinian friar Juan González de Mendoza (1545-1618). These volumes are not part of the subscription entitlement but are available to members from Routledge at a 40% discount, by following the guidance in the members’ section of this website. Latest Video The 2024 Annual lecture was held on 12 June 2024. The lecturers were Council members Dr Guido van Meersbergen and Dr Natalya Din-Kariuki of the University of Warwick. The title of their lecture is “Decolonising Travel Studies: Notes for the Hakluyt Society”. A video of the lecture can be viewed here. Recent publications from the Hakluyt Society THIRD SERIES 44: Sylvie Brassard and John Milsom eds.: Scientific Voyage in the Southern Hemisphere and Around the World Executed Successively on Board the King’s Corvette Uranie and His Majesty’s Corvette La Physicienne During the Years 1817,2828, 1819, and 1820: Narrative Journal of Joseph-Paul Gaimard Commissioned Surgeon of the Marine Royal. THIRD SERIES 43: Julia Leikin and Elena Smilianskaia eds.: Russian Faith, Honour, & Courage Displayed in a Faithfull Narrative of the Russian Expedition by Sea (1769 & 1770) by Rear Admiral John Elphinstone late Commander in Chief of a Squadron of Her Imperial Majesty’s Ships & Captain in His Majesty’s Royal Navy compiled from Original Letters, Papers & Journals. By John Elphinstone. THIRD SERIES 42: Anthony Payne: Richard Hakluyt: A Bibliography 1580–1588 / with Essays on the Suppression of the Voyage to Cadiz in Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations and Hakluyt and the East India Company. 2024. xxxv + 767 pp. 36 coloured plates. THIRD SERIES 41: Nigel Statham and Ian C. Campbell, eds.: An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. 2023. 552 pages 27 B/W Illustrations. THIRD SERIES 40: The Levant Voyage of the Blackham Galley (1696 – 1698) / The Sea Journal of John Looker, Ship’s Surgeon. / Edited by Colin Heywood and Edmond Smith. 2022. pp. 280, 16 colour plates, 3 maps, index. THIRD SERIES 39: Michael Brennan, ed.: English Travellers to Venice, 1450-1600. 2022, pp. xxxiv+433, 16 maps, 27 colour plates, 45 b/w illustrations, 29-page introduction, timeline, appendix, bibliography, index. Includes 35 separate accounts, drawn from contemporary manuscripts and printed sources, of the experiences of a wide range of English travellers to Venice. The Introduction assesses elements of Anglo-Venetian relationships during the period. THIRD SERIES 38: Glen F. Dille, ed.: Spanish and Portuguese Conflict in the Spice Islands: the Loaysa Expedition to the Moluccas 1525-1535. From Book XX of The General and Natural History of the Indies by Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés. 206 pages, 6 maps, 26-page introduction, notes, bibliography. THIRD SERIES 37: Derek L. Elliott, ed.: The Voyages and Manifesto of William Fergusson, a Surgeon of the East India Company 1731-1739. 203 pages, 8 maps, 4 colour plates, 9 monochrome illustrations, including a 33-page introduction, bibliography, etc. THIRD SERIES 36: Judith E. Bosnak & Frans X. Koot, trans. & eds: The Javanese Travels of Purwalelana / A Nobleman’s Account of his Journeys across the Island of Java 1860-1875. 294 pages, 4 maps, 24 colour plates, 49 photographs, introduction, appendixes, bibliography. THIRD SERIES 35: Editor Trevor H. Levere The Arctic Journal of Captain Henry Wemyss Feilden, R.A., the Naturalist in H.M.S. Alert, 1875-1876. xxxi + 400 pages, 10 maps, 17 colour plates, 68 figures. Includes a 34-page Introduction, appendices, bibliography, indexes. The first publication of the daily diary of Feilden, one of the two full-time naturalists on what was the first major British naval expedition to the high Arctic.
