Samuel Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex in1577 and graduated from St John's College, Cambridge, in 1600. In 1604 he became the vicar of St. Laurence and All Saints, in Eastwood, Essex.
Eastwood is only two miles from Leigh-on-Sea, which was a prosperous shipping centre and meeting place for seafaring men. Purchas himself "never travelled 200 miles from Thaxted in Essex where I was borne". Instead, he recorded personal narratives shared with him by sailors on their return to England from their voyages. He added these accounts to a large collection of manuscripts on the subject which were left to him by Richard Haklvytvs and later published them to give an overview of the "diversity of God's creation" from an Anglican perspective.
In 1614 he published Purchas His Pilgrimage: or the Relations of the World and the Religions observed in all Ages and Places discovered, from the Creation unto this Present. The book was immediately popular and went through four editions between 1614 and 1626. The RGSSA copy from 1625 referred to here is the 4th Edition in four volumes and contains maps and pictures. The title page is not signed and is thought to be the work of Henry Hondius who engraved a number of the maps. It also includes two globes - one of America, Africa and Europe and the other of Asia and the north-west part of America. Both globes show a large southern land mass as did the earlier maps of Mercator 1538, Munster 1540 and Ortelius 1570.
As an editor and compiler Purchas sought to interest the general public of his day and to educate the reader about the world, foreign culture and morality. During a time when travel literature had the patriotic purpose of inspiring Englishmen to engage in overseas expansion and enterprise, his collections were read with enthusiasm. Though Purchas is said to have lacked the editorial genius of Haklvytvs (some of whose writings are included and acknowledged by Purchas), his collection is frequently the only source of information on important questions relating to geographical history and early exploration.