Yet his books give some of the earliest and most complete information on New England flora and fauna in colonial times, and his outlook was later praised by Henry Thoreau, among others.
He first visited New England in July 1638 when he presented his respects to Governor John Winthrop and to the Rev.
[1] The evidence gleaned from New England Rarities and An Account of Two Voyages indicates he was well educated and may have been trained as a surgeon and physician.
[2] Josselyn was "a writer of almost incredible credulity", according to the anthology Colonial Prose and Poetry: The Beginnings of Americanism 1650–1710.
His credulity rises almost to genius, as when he tells us that the Indians disputed "in perfect hexameter verse".