With the exception of Homer's great foundational work of sea literature, The Odyssey (Alexander Pope's celebrated translation is depicted below)...
...most of the earliest printed literature about the sea was produced for, or was a product of, the great voyages of exploration undertaken during the 11th-16th centuries by Spain, Portugal, The Netherlands, Great Britain and France. This literature is first and foremost portolan charts and nautical atlases and pilots' books, many of which were valued more highly than gold, as the knowledge encapsulated in these books and charts often allowed their owners to exploit resources in far-flung lands before anyone else even knew such lands existed (the 16th century portolan chart depicted below documents the waters around the island of Crete):
Anyone hoping to add examples of these to a private library of sea literature needs both very deep pockets and a lot of patience, as such items are both extremely rare (especially in anything approaching Fine condition) and extremely expensive. This is especially true of landmark items like De Speighel der Zeevaert, the first printed atlas to contain both charts and written navigational directions, produced by the famed Dutch maritime pilot Lucas Jansz Waghenaer in 1584–85. (This quickly went through many editions. The illustration below, from the English edition of 1588, depicts the south coast of England):
If one lacks the required monetary resources, or patience, to buy original copies of these items, all is not lost, as many excellent histories of maritime cartography have been published in recent years that at least give one access to the intellectual fruits of these early maritime endeavors. Some of these, such as the multi-volume The History of Cartography (University of Chicago Press), cover the entire world...
...while others cover specific types of maritime cartography in considerable detail:
As influential as these charts and books were to their original owners, and as desirable as they may be for a private library of sea literature, it is fiction which graces most private libraries of sea literature. And the earliest works of maritime literature that would substantially influence the development of such fiction were not charts and atlases but rather printed accounts of the great voyages of exploration, which frequently included ships' logs....
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