509J   Anonmyous.) R.B. = R. Burton, i.e. Nathaniel Crouch

The English hero: or, Sir Francis Drake reviv’d being a full account of the dangerous voyages, admirable adventures, notable discoveries, and magnanimous atchievements of that valiant and renowned commander. I. His voyage in 1572. To Nombre de Dios in the West Indies, where they saw a pile of bars of silver near 70 foot long, ten foot broad, and twelve foot high. II. His incompassing the whole world in 1577. Which he perform’d in two years and ten months, gaining a vast quantity of gold and silver. III. His voyage into America in 1585, and taking the towns of St. Jago, St. Domingo, Carthagena and St. Augustine. Also his worthy actions when vice-admiral of England in the Spanish invasion, 1588. IV. His last voyage in those countries in 1595, with the manner of his death and burial. Recommended to the imitation of all heroick spirits. Inlarged, reduced into chapters with contents, and beautified with pictures. By R.B. 

London : Printed for Nath. Crouch at the Bell against Grocers-Alley in the Poultry near Cheapside, 1710.                                

Price $ 1,900

Duodecimo: 14 x 9 cm. Signatures: A-H¹².page count iv,[175],[13]pp lacking frontispiece. portrait, but with one text woodcut (see above)  

Burton’s account of the exploits of Sir Francis Drake was itself mainly cribbed from a work originally published in 1653. His first edition appeared in 1687. Sabin records this as the fifth edition of Burton’s version. that may have been counting from 1653, or as Kraus suggests, the second and third editions may never have existed.

This is an important work in the Drake legend, it describes the Nombre de Dios voyage of 1572, the circumnavigation of 1575-77, Drake’s defeat of the Armada in 1588, and his final American voyages. 

 This brief biography of Drake, a key contribution to his legendary status in the popular imagination, includes accounts of his global circumnavigation, his defeat of the Spanish Armada and his voyages to North America.

“Based largely on Fletcher’s World encompassed [1628] and on Nichol’s Sir Francis Drake revived [1626], this account… seems to have struck English popular fancy more forcibly” than its sources (Howes B1035). In fact, although the title page denotes this the “eighth edition,” the books probably the 4th and it actually saw 23 editions by 1762.

“R.B.” are initials for “Robert Burton,” a pseudonym bookseller and publisher Nathaniel Crouch.

“A biography of Drake in chap-book form…like all such chap-book publications, copies are seldom found” – Kraus (commenting on the 1695 edition). 

ESTC Citation No.  T71202: SABIN 9500. EUROPEAN AMERICANA 710/30.:   KRAUS, WORLD ENCOMPASSED 45 (1695 ed).

The Raid on St. Augustine was a military event during the Anglo-Spanish War in which the Spanish settlement of St. Augustine in Florida was captured in a small fight and burnt by an English expedition fleet led by Francis Drake. This was part of Francis Drake’s Great Expedition and was his last engagement on the Spanish Main before Drake headed north for the Roanoke Colony. The expedition also forced the Spanish to abandon any settlements and forts in present-day South Carolina.

Johnson, Betty Drees (1961). A Survey of Sir Francis Drake’s Raid on St. Augustine, Florida, 1586. University of Stetson.