Samuel Purchas

Purchas, Samuel

Purchas, Samuel (1575?–1626), English clergyman, whose best‐known religious writing is Purchas his Pilgrim. Microcosmus, or the histories of Man (1619). He is famous for carrying on the work of Hakluyt, although his editions of contemporary travel narratives are considered inferior in style and scholarship to those of his predecessor. In 1613 he published his first collection, Purchas his Pilgrimage; or, Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and places discovered, from the Creation unto this Present. The final revision of this work (1626) constitutes a supplemen‐tary volume to his comprehensive extension of Hakluyt's collection, Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas his Pilgrimes, contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Lande Travells, by Englishmen and others (4 vols., 1625). The first half of this enthusiastic work is devoted to travels in the Old World and the Far East, while the second half contains narratives of voyages to America.

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James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Purchas, Samuel." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Purchas, Samuel." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-PurchasSamuel.html

James D. Hart and and Phillip W. Leininger. "Purchas, Samuel." The Oxford Companion to American Literature. 1995. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O123-PurchasSamuel.html

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Purchas, Samuel

Purchas, Samuel (1577–1626), published in 1613 Purchas His Pilgrimage, Or Relations of the World and the Religions Observed in All Ages; in 1619 Purchas His Pilgrim; and in 1625 Hakluytus Posthumus, or Purchas His Pilgrimes, Contayning a History of the World in Sea Voyages and Land Travell by Englishmen and Others, which is in part based on manuscripts left by Hakluyt. It contains accounts of voyages to India, China, Japan, Africa, and the Mediterranean and attempts to discover the North-West Passage, the Muscovy expeditions, and the explorations of the West Indies and Florida. Coleridge was reading about Kubla Khan in Purchas when he fell into the trance that produced his own poem on the subject, and J. L. Lowes in The Road to Xanadu (1927) further traces his debt. (See also Romanticism.)

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MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Purchas, Samuel." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. 26 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Purchas, Samuel." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Encyclopedia.com. (May 26, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-PurchasSamuel.html

MARGARET DRABBLE and JENNY STRINGER. "Purchas, Samuel." The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature. 2003. Retrieved May 26, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O54-PurchasSamuel.html

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