A fine set, with excellent early provenance, of one of the most handsome voyage compendiums of the eighteenth century. These two volumes are known as the 'Harleian' or 'Oxford' voyages', being compiled in some part from the unpublished manuscripts in the collection of the Earl of Oxford. Although separately published by Thomas Osborne at a later date, they are generally considered the logical supplement to the travel anthology first published in 1704 by John and Awnsham Churchill. Since they publish material not included in the first six volumes of Churchill's anthology (including Galvano, Drake, Le Maire, de Mont and numerous others), they form a natural complement to the earlier collection. Osborne, or an associate, has contributed a disarmingly eloquent introductory discourse on travel, foreign government and the like, filled with choice aphorisms such as "in your travel you shall have great help to attain knowledge, which is not only the most excellent thing in man, but the very excellency of man".

A fine set, with excellent early provenance, of one of the most handsome voyage compendiums of the eighteenth century. These two volumes are known as the 'Harleian' or 'Oxford' voyages', being compiled in some part from the unpublished manuscripts in the collection of the Earl of Oxford. Although separately published by Thomas Osborne at a later date, they are generally considered the logical supplement to the travel anthology first published in 1704 by John and Awnsham Churchill. Since they publish material not included in the first six volumes of Churchill's anthology (including Galvano, Drake, Le Maire, de Mont and numerous others), they form a natural complement to the earlier collection. Osborne, or an associate, has contributed a disarmingly eloquent introductory discourse on travel, foreign government and the like, filled with choice aphorisms such as "in your travel you shall have great help to attain knowledge, which is not only the most excellent thing in man, but the very excellency of man".

The first volume principally deals with the Near and Middle East, while the second volume covers North America, India, East Asia and the East Indies and Africa. The Chinese content is substantial and includes Baudier's History of the Court of the King of China and Escalante's Account of the Empire of China. The well printed plates are derived from a range of sources, while the maps are principally after the work of Dutch cartographer Herman Moll. The frontispiece to the second volume is a magnificent folding map titled "A Chart of the East Indies", while Moll's famous map of the trade winds (originally printed for Knapton's voyages of Dampier) here re-appears as a considerably enlarged folding chart measuring 200 x 540 mm.

A printer's error makes a jump in pagination between pp. 262-410 in the first volume. Although this gap is not noted in the bibliographies listed, comparison with two copies in American university libraries shows that this mis-pagination is the norm.