Richard Henry Major

Richard Henry Major (October 3, 1818 – June 25, 1891) was a geographer and map librarian who curated the map collection of the British Museum from 1844 until his retirement in 1880.

Richard Henry Major

During that time, Major published a number of books related to maps or documents of historical significance. From 1849 until 1858, he was the Secretary of the Hakluyt Society.[1]

Works

• Notes upon Russia: Being a Translation of the earliest Account of that Country, entitled Rerum Muscoviticarum commentarii, by the Baron Sigismund von Herberstein[2]
• Early voyages to Terra Australia, now called Australia[3]
• Further Facts Relating To The Early Discovery Of Australia With Supplementary Observations On The Same Subject
• The Discovery Of Australia By The Portuguese In 1601[4]
• Memoir on a mappemonde by Leonardo da Vinci, being the earliest map hitherto known containing the name of America[5]
• The life of Prince Henry of Portugal surnamed the navigator and its results: Comprising the discovery, within one century, of half the world. With new facts in the discovery of the Atlantic Islands. A refutation of French claims to priority in discovery. Portuguese Knowledge (subsequently lost) of the Nile lakes; and the history of the naming of America.[6]
• The voyages of the Venetian brothers, Nicolò & Antonio Zeno, to the northern seas in the XIVth century : comprising the latest known accounts of the lost colony of Greenland and of the Northmen in America before Columbus[7]
• India in the fifteenth century : being a collection of narratives of voyages to India, in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope ; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, now first translated into English[8]

References

1. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1893). "Major, Richard Henry" . Dictionary of National Biography. 35. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
2. von Herberstein, Baron Sigismund (1851). Major, Richard Henry (ed.). Notes upon Russia: Being a Translation of the earliest Account of that Country, entitled Rerum Muscoviticarum commentarii. London: The Hakluyt Society. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
3. Major, Richard Henry, ed. (1859). Early voyages to Terra Australia, now called Australia. London: The Hakluyt Society. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
4. Major, Richard Henry (1861). The Discovery of Australia by the Portuguese in 1601: Five Years Before the Earliest Discovery Hitherto Recorded : with Arguments in Favour of a Previous Discovery by the Same Nation, Early in the Sixteenth Century. London: J.B. Nicholls and Sons. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
5. Major, Richard Henry (1865). Memoir on a mappemonde by Leonardo da Vinci, being the earliest map hitherto known containing the name of America, now in the Royal Collection at Windsor (pdf). London: J.B. Nicholls and Sons. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
6. Major, Richard Henry (1868). The life of Prince Henry of Portugal surnamed the navigator and its results: Comprising the discovery, within one century, of half the world. With new facts in the discovery of the Atlantic Islands. A refutation of French claims to priority in discovery. Portuguese Knowledge (subsequently lost) of the Nile lakes; and the history of the naming of America. London: A. Asher & Co. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
7. Zeno, Niccolò (1873). Major, Richard Henry (ed.). The voyages of the Venetian brothers, Nicolò & Antonio Zeno, to the northern seas in the XIVth century : comprising the latest known accounts of the lost colony of Greenland and of the Northmen in America before Columbus. London: The Hakluyt Society. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
8. Major, Richard Henry (1857). India in the fifteenth century : being a collection of narratives of voyages to India, in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, now first translated into English. London: The Hakluyt Society. Retrieved 21 March 2015.

External links

• Works by Richard Henry Major at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about Richard Henry Major at Internet Archive