The publications of the Hakluyt Society (founded in 1846) made available edited (and sometimes translated) early accounts of exploration. The first series, which ran from 1847 to 1899, consists of 100 books containing published or previously unpublished works by authors from Christopher Columbus to Sir Francis Drake, and covering voyages to the New World, to China and Japan, to Russia and to Africa and India. This book contains three accounts of Dutch voyages in search of a north-eastern passage to China, undertaken in the 1590s. The original Hakluyt edition was published in 1853, but a new edition was prepared in 1876, in light of recent expeditions to the region, of which accounts are given. The Dutch were not successful in establishing a north-east passage; but the stories of the expeditions and of the courage and endurance of the men who took part in them make for fascinating reading.

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