Previously unpublished documents selected and `set forth in a single volume in order that the nature and significance of the enterprise may be more fully understood', together with `new editions of the Primrose journal and the Summarie in their early spelling'.The introduction includes `a brief description of the kinds of sources, in this volume and elsewhere, that are now available concerning the voyage', classified as (i) 'furnishing lists', accounts, and plans, (ii) logs and journals, (iii) despatches and newsletters, (iv) contemporary narratives, and (v) maps. Also described are the plans for the voyage; its organization as a joint-stock enterprise; the adventurers, ships, andpersonnel; problems of administration and authority; the several stages of the voyage; and its significance. In the appendices, a descriptive list of ships for the expedition; biographical notes on the personnel; a bibliographic note on A summarie and true discourse; and a note on the maps. Maps, plates.