The Hakluyt Society Voyages and Travels

The Hakluyt Society Voyages and Travels

‘I am on the road to Tombuctoo’? Who has not wanted to pen these words, as explorer Alexander Gordon Laing (1794-1826) did in November 1825.

An exhibition - Intrepid Journeys. Travelling with the Hakluyt Society - begins on 16th June 2017 in the de Beer Gallery, Special Collections, University of Otago, that highlights Laing’s arduous trip (he did not make it back), and many others.

Intrepid Journeys is an exhibition that highlights two aspects. The first is the Hakluyt Society, established in London in 1846 with a commitment to print rare or unpublished voyages and travels. Beginning in 1847 with The Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, Knt in his Voyage into the South Sea in the year 1593, their publication programme has continued, enthralling readers around the world with the accounts of a wide range of voyagers and travellers, who manage to document something of their toil and adventures as they traverse unknown and distant regions. The second aspect celebrates the work of Dr Esmond de Beer (1895–1990), the Dunedin-born scholar of John Evelyn and John Locke, who was President of the Hakluyt Society from 1972 to 1978. De Beer and his sisters were generous and indefatigable supporters of the Society and its activities. He is the University of Otago Library’s prime benefactor, giving his large library collection to Special Collections.

Rather than concentrate on well-travelled paths like the Pacific, more attention is given to lesser known accounts, those that reveal something of those strange, exotic, out of the way areas of the world that have been explored, travelled, and mapped. Books and places on display range from 16th century Japan, 14th century Greenland, and Ibn Battuta’s 14th century ‘Muslim’ journeys, to 17th century India, mysterious Timbuktu, and the interior of Australia in the 19th century. Magellan’s circumnavigation is covered as well as some of James Cook’s voyages, including J.C. Beaglehole’s edited publications, and those by Johann Reinhold Forster on board the Resolution, 1772-1775. Importantly, there is one feature of these Hakluyt Society publications that dominates: the maps. Not only do these documents help ground the reader in what is the real world, ‘terra firma’, but they also offer excellent visual impact.

Exhibition Details

Intrepid Journeys. Travelling with the Hakluyt Society

16th June to 8th September 2017

1st floor, Central University Library (ISB)

Hours: 8.30 to 5.00 pm de Beer Gallery, Special Collections

ends

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