The transcription consists of extracts of correspondence deposited by Prof David Beers Quinn (d. 2002) in the Library of Congress. The extracts all relate to, or throw light on, the research by Prof Quinn (formerly of Liverpool University), Dr Alwyn Ruddock (formerly of Birkbeck College, University of London) and Miss Margaret Condon (formerly of The Public Record Office, London). The extracts have been selected because all illuminate the research of these scholars on the Bristol discovery voyages to the North America in the late-fifteenth and early-sixteenth century.

The transcriptions follow the spelling, punctuation and line breaks of the original. Errors made by the letter writers are marked [sic], to distinguish them from any errors the transcriber may have made. The letters were all typed, unless otherwise indicated.