Author Description

"This book reproduces in full the celebrated but rarely seen British Museum collections of watercolours made by this relatively unknown gentleman-artist. It also tells the story of his five voyages to 'Virginia' and his role as Governor of the 'Lost Colony' of Roanoke, which preceded Captain John Smith's more successful settlement at Jamestown twenty years later." "White's watercolours bring to life the complex and sophisticated culture of the coastal Carolina Algonquians. All his known work is reproduced here - maps and charts, watercolours of Florida Indians, West Indian flora and fauna, the Inuit encountered by Martin Frobisher, and an amazing and influential set of watercolours of Picts and ancient Britons. Each one is reproduced in colour opposite its historical explanation, supplemented by the famous de Bry engravings, which were responsible for spreading his images throughout Europe, as well as other comparable works by contemporary and later artists including Mark Catesby, the eighteenth-century natural historian."--Jacket.