Kerr's celebrated collection includes accounts of exploration from the medieval era through to the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook and his contemporaries. No less than six of the eighteen volumes are devoted to the three voyages of Cook, accompanied by a detailed and finely printed folding chart including the track of Cook's first voyage.

Kerr's celebrated collection includes accounts of exploration from the medieval era through to the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook and his contemporaries. No less than six of the eighteen volumes are devoted to the three voyages of Cook, accompanied by a detailed and finely printed folding chart including the track of Cook's first voyage.

"A General History and Collection" was issued in instalments between 1811 and 1816, with the final volume by William Stevenson published in 1824 after Kerr's death. This second and best edition has title-pages uniformly dated 1824 and three additional maps not included in the first edition, including detailed charts of Tahiti and the Hawaiian islands.

The first volume commences with early Scandinavian exploration, including the discovery of Greenland and mainland North America by Icelanders of Norwegian descent before 1000 AD. It includes other medieval voyagers, including Sir John Mandeville, Marco Polo and Nicolo and Antonio Zeno and incorporates the accounts of Arabic and Jewish travellers to enrich the scope of the work. Subsequent volumes include the early discovery of India and Africa, Christopher Columbus and the conquistadors in the New World and travellers of the Middle East, Central Asia and China. Volumes eight and nine in the series comprise daring voyages commissioned by the East India Company in the early seventeenth-century and form a valuable historical resource.

Volumes ten and eleven include circumnavigators from Magellan to Lord Anson, including journal entries from Schouten and Le Maire, William Dampier and George Shelvocke. British naval exploration of the eighteenth century, especially Cook's discoveries, take pride of place, indeed the preface boasts the collection 'is especially distinguished by a correct and full account of all Captain Cook's voyages'. The Pacific discovery narratives of Byron, Wallis and Carteret are included, as is an abstract of Bougainville's voyage of 1766-1769.

The set concludes with William Stevenson's concise and scholarly history of exploration that includes indexes to the seventeen volumes of original narratives and a lengthy bibliography of voyages arranged by region, with sections on Polynesia and Australasia.

::