ABSTRACT
In his own lifetime Richard Hakluyt's achievement won him no spectacular rewards or exceptional literary prominence. The details of the transition in materials from Hakluyt to Samuel Purchas are very important in the record of the transmission of Hakluyt's collections. It would seem that shortly after 1600, the word 'Hakluyt' became a portmanteau expression for the Principal navigations or Voyages. It is clear that William Oldys' biographical knowledge of Hakluyt and his enthusiasm for his works made his contribution of his Hakluyt article to Biographia Britannica in 1757, though unsigned, a real turning-point in the history of Hakluyt's reputation. It will be evident that to a considerable degree Hakluyt's reputation with scholars has depended on knowledge of and accessibidity of his works. In the 1950s the advance of photolithography enabled the Hakluyt Society to contemplate the republication of Hakluyt's The Principall navigations, still largely unknown in its original form to many scholars.
