LC Global Gateway: The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake

[Laura Gottesman]

Please excuse any cross-postings:

The Library of Congress' s Rare Book & Special Collections Division
is pleased to announce the release of a new digital collection, The
Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake, available on the Library's Global
Gateway Web site at: http://international.loc.gov/intldl/drakehtml/. 

Sir Francis Drake, English explorer and naval strategist,
circumnavigated the globe from 1577-1580. During these travels, Drake
visited the Caribbean and the Pacific, claiming a portion of California
for Queen Elizabeth and waging battles on the Spanish. His voyages
revealed significant new geographical data about the New World and added
greatly to Queen Elizabeth's treasury. 

The Kraus Collection comprises important primary and secondary
materials about Drake's voyages throughout the then Spanish territory
of the Americas. It consists of 60 items--16 manuscripts, 29 books, 8
maps and views, and 7 medals and portraits. The materials range in date
from 1579 to 1765. Texts are in English, Latin, German, Dutch, Italian,
Spanish and French.

Hans Peter Kraus, one of the foremost booksellers of the second half of
the twentieth century, and his wife Hanni assembled the collection. Born
in Austria in 1907, Kraus exhibited a love of collecting from an early
age. In 1939, during the Nazi Occupation, Kraus and his family fled
Austria for the United States. Within two weeks of his arrival in New
York, Kraus met Hanni, his future wife and business partner. The couple
established an antiquarian bookselling firm, H. P. Kraus, Inc. in the
early 1940s and did not close this legendary firm until Hans Peter's
death in 1988. 

Hans and Hanni Kraus generously donated their collection of Drake
materials to the Rare Book and Special Collections Division of the
Library of Congress in 1980.  The combination of the Library's rich
collections from this period and the resources of the neighboring Folger
Shakespeare Library make Washington a preeminent center for the study of
the Elizabethan era.

This online presentation of The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake
joins other world history collections available on the Library of
Congress's Global Gateway Web site:
http://international.loc.gov/intldl/intldlhome.html. The Kraus
Collection of Sir Francis Drake may be found under the heading:
"Individual Digital Collections." 

Please direct any questions regarding this collection to the Global
Gateway inquiry form at:
http://www.loc.gov/help/contact-international.html.


Laura Gottesman
Reference Specialist
Digital Reference Team
The Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington, DC 20540-4604