The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles

Ann Arbor. University Microfilms. 1966. Hardcover. Very Good. Fascimile Edition, 28cm, 248p., portraits, maps, blue cloth, previous owners inscription, a very good copy (scs) Smith, one of the last of the Elizabethan adventurers, was leader of the first permanent English settlement in America at Jamestown, Virginia. He was an important man in the colony and because of his friendly relations with the Indians was able buy corn which made it possible for the colonist to survive the first winters. Once Smith was captured by unfriendly Indians. According to the story he told later, he was about to be killed when Pocahontas, the chief's twelve-year-old daughter, begged that he be saved. He was responsible for getting London to send settlers who would be farmers, fishermen and workers rather than gold-seekers, which led to the building of a successful colony. In 1614 he returned from England where he had been recuperating after an injury, to explore and map the coast of New England. He wrote many books about his adventures. John Smith died in 1631.