Hakluyt Society

The Hakluyt Society is a text publication society, founded in 1846 and based in London, England, which publishes scholarly editions of primary records of historic voyages, travels and other geographical material. In addition to its publishing role, the Society organises and participates in meetings, symposia and conferences relating to the history of geographical exploration and cultural encounter. It is a registered charity and a non-profitmaking institution administered by a voluntary team of council members and officers. Membership is open to all with an interest in its aims.

The Society is named after Richard Hakluyt (1552–1616), a collector and editor of narratives of voyages and travels and other documents relating to English interests overseas.

The Society was created at a meeting convened in the London Library, St James’s Square, on 15 December 1846. Under the chairmanship of the geologist Sir Roderick Murchison, it established an eight-man steering group which included the geographer and historian William Desborough Cooley; the Army medical officer Dr Andrew Smith; the naval officer and surveyor Sir Charles Malcolm; the antiquary Bolton Corney; the British Museum Principal Librarian Sir Henry Ellis; the physicist and mathematician William Rowan Hamilton, FRS; and John Edward Gray, Keeper of Zoology at the British Museum. Cooley had previously criticised the Royal Geographical Society for relying too heavily on contemporary materials in the solution of geographical problems, arguing that the scientific study of geography should involve a far wider analysis and appreciation of earlier sources. He took the major role during the Society's formative period, assisted by Corney and Smith, while Murchison occupied little more than a figurehead position.

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