When artists were hired to illustrate written accounts of events in Virginia, they did not aim to make realistic representations, but to vivify the narratives. Their engravings used European pictorial conventions and generic landscapes, and when the artists borrowed details from other prints, those details sometimes were authentic but often not.

In 1617 the German printer Abelius engaged the artist Georg Keller to illustrate his translation of Ralph Hamor's A True Discourse of the Present State of Virginia. Hamor's original 1615 London edition had no pictures to copy, so Keller created imaginary scenes, drawn from descriptions in the written narrative. Some details in the pictures derive from the 1590 de Bry prints, but not all. Johann Theodore de Bry, the son and successor of Theodore, issued his translation of Hamor's Present State of Virginia in 1618, in America, Part 10. For illustration, de Bry directly copied Keller's invented pictures (though he flipped them from left to right).

The abduction of Pocahontas By Johann Theodore de Bry after Georg Keller Engraving from book page, 1619 Plate 7 from America, Part 10 Full view and description

The Chickahominy become "New Englishmen" By Johann Theodore de Bry after Georg Keller Engraving from book page, 1619 Plate 9 from America, Part 10 Full view and description

Ralph Hamor visits Powhatan with a proposal By Johann Theodore de Bry after Georg Keller Engraving from book page, 1619 Plate 10 from America, Part 10 Full view and description

Martin Pringe in north Virginia, 1603 Hand-colored engraving from book page, c.1625 or earlier Full view and description