The Italian-born historian, diplomat, and courtier Peter Martyr d'Anghiera (1457-1526) served as King Ferdinand's councillor for the Spanish Crown's affairs in the New World. A contemporary and friend of Columbus, Cortes, and Vespucci, he became one of the primary chroniclers of the early exploration and colonisation of the Americas through his work De orbe nouo Petri Martyris ab Angleria Mediolanensis Protonotarij Cesaris senatoris decades. Martyr's work was published in stages between 1511 and 1530, compiled from eyewitness accounts contained in personal correspondence with navigators, and from official documents to which he had privileged access.

The full text of Peter Martyr's Decades comprises eight decades (or books), but although the first of these appeared in print as early as 1511, it was not until 1530 that the first complete edition - which was in Latin - was published in Alcalá. In 1555 the first English translation, made by Richard Eden, was published in London under the title Decades of the New Worlde, but it comprised only the first three decades. In 1577, a revised edition of Eden's translation was published by Richard Willes as The History of Travayle in the West and East Indies. In 1587 Hakluyt's Latin edition, De Orbe Nouo Petri Martyris Anglerii, also appeared in London. It was a revised version of the 1530 Alcalá edition, and as such contained all eight decades. In 1612 Michael Lok - a former Governor of the Cathay Company, Consul for the Levant Company at Aleppo, and one of Martin Frobisher's financial backers - prepared a new English translation, which became the first complete edition in any vernacular language. Lok undertook the project at Hakluyt's own suggestion, no doubt welcoming the prospect of a financial windfall considering he had been heavily in debt for manyyears. In Lok's version, the first three decades were based on Eden's 1555 edition, and the last five books were translated from Hakluyt's 1587 text. The present volume is the reissue (stated as second edition on the title) of Michael Lok's 1612 English version.

Another issue of Michael Sparke's 1628 printing, printed by Andrew Hebb and with a different title-page, is undated. Although the Hebb imprint has been tentatively dated as early as 1625 by some, Church is inclined to assign priority to the 1628 Sparke printing, citing Henry Stevens's argument that Sparke may have acquired the remainder from the 1612 edition from its printer Adams, and subsequently sold it in part to, or shared it with, Hebb.

Sabin, 1564; Medina, BHS, 235; Palau, 12609; Alden & Landis, 628/5; Church, 358n.