The Voyages of Jacques Cartier

James Pritchard is a history professor at Queen’s University and the
author of Louis XV’s Navy, 1748-1762: A Study of Organization and
Administration.

As the first records of European penetration of the St. Lawrence River,
those resulting from Jacques Cartier’s voyages of 1534, 1536, and 1541
constitute an irreplaceable primary source. By authors unknown, these
accounts are filled with richly detailed descriptions of the people,
flora, and fauna of the region. The records of Cartier’s voyages also
contain fascinating evidence of the very mixed impact of America on the
early European observers themselves.

Little else is new. The introduction contains no appreciation of, or
insights into, Cartier or the men who sailed with him. This edition
consists of a slightly amended version of the English translation of the
Voyages published by H.P. Biggar nearly 70 years ago, and translations
of some letters and documents relating to Cartier and Jean-Franзois de
la Rocque (who commanded during the third voyage) published by Biggar in
1930. This version is not a substitute for the new critical edition of
the Voyages that appeared in French in 1986. Indeed, the intended
audience for the book is unclear. The learned introduction and the
inclusion of much of Biggar’s scholarly apparatus point to an academic
audience, but the omission of an index of people and places suggests
otherwise. Nevertheless, English-speaking Canadians can only welcome the
easy availability of a work long out of print and difficult to locate in
community libraries.