Account of Roanoke Colony in North America, 1590. Title page of the 1590 edition of 'A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia', first published in 1588 by English astronomer Thomas Hariot (c.1560-1621). Hariot was a member of the 1585-6 expedition led by Sir Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane that established a colony on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is today North Carolina in the USA, but was then referred to as Virginia. The colony was established at the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh. Both Grenville and Raleigh are named on this title page. Hariot and others explored the area, producing this account of their voyage. The report described the native flora and fauna, and the indigenous population of Carolina Algonquians who are depicted here. The illustrations were by John White. The 1590 edition of this work was published in Frankfurt by Theodore De Bry.