Book excerpt: This four-volume collection brings together rare pamphlets from the formative years of the English involvement in the Caribbean. Texts presented in the volumes cover the first impressions of the region, imperial rivalries between European traders and settlers and the experience of day-to-day life in the colonies. Volume 1: Conceptualizing the West Indies The texts in this volume chart the growth of English interest in the West Indies, as seen through the publications of the time. Beginning with the Spanish discovery and colonization there followed reports of Spanish cruelty. Gradually the English started to make incursions into the area and this new era of colonization is reflected in the sources. Later publications document the landscape of the islands, the native inhabitants and the other settlers who began to arrive.