Fuentes inglesas del siglo XVIIIel texto de J. Edens

Abstract

18th century English travel writing on the Canaries open with J. Edens’ account on the Pike of Tenerife, a text which is characteristic of the Enlightenment, written in a plain style without any concession to a superfluous erudition, and which reveals to us that the author is a man of his time, who is determined to read Nature’s book from science, and to provide rational explanations to what he sees. Edens’ account is particularly significant as it played a very important role in refuting all the exaggerated lucubrations and mistakes on the Pike which circulated throughout the two previous centuries. In this paper, a special attention is devoted to the Spanish translations of this English source, and a new one is provided.