Richard Henry Major (October 3, 1818 – June 25, 1891) was a geographer and map librarian who curated the map collection of the British Museum from 1844 until his retirement in 1880.
During that time, Major published a number of books related to maps or documents of historical significance. From 1849 until 1858, he was the Secretary of the Hakluyt Society.
Notes upon Russia: Being a Translation of the earliest Account of that Country, entitled Rerum Muscoviticarum commentarii, by the Baron Sigismund von HerbersteinEarly voyages to Terra Australia, now called AustraliaFurther Facts Relating To The Early Discovery Of Australia With Supplementary Observations On The Same SubjectThe Discovery Of Australia By The Portuguese In 1601Memoir on a mappemonde by Leonardo da Vinci, being the earliest map hitherto known containing the name of AmericaThe life of Prince Henry of Portugal surnamed the navigator and its results: Comprising the discovery, within one century, of half the world. With new facts in the discovery of the Atlantic Islands. A refutation of French claims to priority in discovery. Portuguese Knowledge (subsequently lost) of the Nile lakes; and the history of the naming of America.The voyages of the Venetian brothers, Nicolò & Antonio Zeno, to the northern seas in the XIVth century : comprising the latest known accounts of the lost colony of Greenland and of the Northmen in America before ColumbusIndia in the fifteenth century : being a collection of narratives of voyages to India, in the century preceding the Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope ; from Latin, Persian, Russian, and Italian sources, now first translated into English 