ABSTRACT
The inclusion of a list of drawings, with associated texts, may appear an unusual feature in a documentary collection, yet what follows is not primarily a catalogue of John White's drawings, but an attempt to see what historical evidence they can be made to yield on the Virginia ventures. To make the drawings themselves intelligible it is necessary to set out the principal groups which are by White or are derived from his work in some scheme of relationship. The contemporary title, in White's hand as we must assume, says that the drawings were made in Virginia in 1585—before 17 November if we take it literally. It is through another portfolio of drawings in the British Museum, which are not in White's hand, that we approach, though not without difficulty and somewhat uncertain conjecture, the archetype most nearly.
