Thomas Astley.

About Thomas Astley

Thomas Astley was a bookseller and publisher in London in the 18th century. He often wrote about relevant topics at the time, and contributed to many of those controversial topics. He ran his business from Saint Paul's Churchyard and Paternoster Row. He belonged to the Company of Stationers. He published the celebrated Voyages and Travels which described localities in Africa and Asia, compiling information from travel books by John Atkins, Jean Barbot, Willem Bosman, Theodor de Bry, Francis Moore, Jean-Baptiste Labat, Godefroi Loyer, Thomas Phillips, William Smith, and Nicolas Villaut de Bellefond. It included engravings by G. Child and Nathaniel Parr. Astley intended his Voyages to improve upon the previous travel collections of Samuel Purchas, John Harris, and Awnsham & John Churchill. It was read by patrons of Hookham's Circulating Library, Boosey's circulating library, London Institution, Royal Institution, Salem Athenaeum, and Cape Town public library. Astley's Voyages was translated into German (Schwabe, Allgemeine Historie der Reisen, Leipzig) and French (Prévost, Histoire des voyages, Paris).