1598 or 1599-1600. Three folio volumes. A monumental work, much celebrated. "It is difficult to overrate the importance and value of this extraordinary collection of voyages" (Sabin 29595). The much expanded second edition nearly doubles the information of the first edition. "This [second edition] was indeed Hakluyt's monumental masterpiece. Much that was new and important was included: the travels of Newbery and Fitch, Lancaster's first voyage, the new achievements in the Spanish Main, and particularly Raleigh's tropical adventures" (Church).
This preferred edition of Hakluyt will always be the primary source for the history of early British exploration, as well as one of the gems of Elizabethan letters. This is an attractive set bound in uniform later half leather with marbled paper boards (although sizes vary slightly with volume three slightly taller). As is often the case, the pagination is difficult and there are some issues with a handful of leaves seemingly supplied from other copies. In this set, we note the following: the proper title page to volume one is lacking; in its place is an altered version of an original title for volume two. The last leaf of text in volume two is supplied in handwritten form. The section on the conquest of Cadiz by Essex (vol. 1, p. 607-619, [1]) was ordered suppressed by Queen Elizabeth in 1599 and is not present in this and most other copies; lacking the map, which may not have been issued with the book.
The complete collation is as follows: I: *2-6 (lacking t-p *1, supplied by an altered volume two title page), **6, A-Z6, Aa-Zz6, Aaa-Ddd6, Eee3. II: *8, A-Z6, Aa-Cc6, Aaa-Qqq6, Rrr5 (lacking final text leaf, Rr6, text supplied in handwritten facsimile). III: (A)8, A-I6, K8, L-Z6, Aa-Zz6 (Vv1 & Vv6 supplied from a shorter copy). Engl. illustrated books, 1536-1603, 12626; Pforzheimer, 443; Church 322; Hill 743; ESTC S106744.