The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes.
John Smith's 1626 general history of Virginia, New England and the Summer Isles, printed in London for the bookseller Michael Sparkes, recounts English colonial ventures from 1584 onward for a reading public of adventurers and planters. Its pictures are letterpress ornaments: a repeating strapwork border, a bearded face framed by scrolling foliage, and a large decorated initial B beside body text, all of which show a designer how early seventeenth-century printers balanced ornament, type and white space.
![Picture 1 of 5 from The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. (1626), leaf 2](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-generallhistorie00smit_1-2-0.webp)
![Picture 2 of 5 from The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. (1626), leaf 117](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-generallhistorie00smit_1-117-0.webp)
![Picture 3 of 5 from The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. (1626), leaf 183](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-generallhistorie00smit_1-183-0.webp)
![Picture 4 of 5 from The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. (1626), leaf 183](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-generallhistorie00smit_1-183-1.webp)
![Picture 5 of 5 from The generall historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: with the names of the adventurers, planters, and governours from their first beginning, an[n]o: 1584. to this present 1626. : With the procedings of those severall colonies and the accidents that befell them in all their journyes and discoveries. Also the maps and descriptions of all those countryes, their commodities, people, government, customes, and religion yet knowne. Divided into sixe bookes. (1626), leaf 264](https://img.insideoutlibrary.com/img/200/ia-generallhistorie00smit_1-264-0.webp)