Details
MATTHEW FLINDERS (1774-1814).
A Voyage to Terra Australis, undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship The Investigator and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland schooner. London: W. Bulmer and Co., for G. and W. Nicol, 1814. 3 vols., 4° and 2° (315 x 240mm; atlas vol. 505 x 395mm). Half-titles, uncut, 9 engraved plates in the text volumes after W. Westall, atlas volume with 16 folding and double-page maps, 2 folding plates of coastal and headland views, and 10 double-page plates of plants after Ferdinand Bauer and engraved by Elizabeth Byrne, Pye and Sansom. (Plates in text vols. slightly browned, occasional light spotting, a few small tears neatly repaired plate 16 lightly soiled at lower corners.) Text volumes in modern full tree calf, atlas volume in half tree calf with marbled paper boards, gilt spines, red leather labels with on-laid green volume label, original paper title label affixed to front atlas cover. Provenance: one plate stamped "Portico" on verso (small stamp discreetly erased from some plates).
FIRST EDITION of "the most outstanding book on the coastal exploration of Australia" (J. Wantrup, Australian Rare Books, p.144). Flinders sailed from England on 18 July 1801, and during the next two years he surveyed the entire coast of Australia from Cape Leeuwin to Bass Strait. Although his voyage was beset by unreliable ships, he returned to Port Jackson in 1803 after completing the first circumnavigation of Australia, thus establishing it as a continent. Flinders devoted the remainder of his life to the publication of the Voyage to Terra Australis, which was formally published the day before his death on 19 July 1814. It is a day-by-day record of the expedition and includes a lengthy introduction detailing earlier South Seas voyages and an appendix by Robert Brown, the botanist accompanying the expedition. Brown's work, General Remarks ... on the Botany of Terra Australis was later published separately as well. Flinders took great pain over the accuracy of the work, and the charts contained in the atlas were used for navigation for over a century. The Voyage to Terra Australis was of monumental cartographical significance and "is the centrepiece of any collection of books dealing with Australian coastal discovery" (Wantrup, p.144). The three volumes were originally published in both large-paper (150 copies) and normal (1000 copies) issues, with the normal issue in paper boards costing £8.8.0. The atlas accompanying the present copy is in the small format with the plates folded. Ferguson 576; Ingleton 6487; Wantrup pp. 138-144; Hill p.106. (3)
A Voyage to Terra Australis, undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship The Investigator and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland schooner. London: W. Bulmer and Co., for G. and W. Nicol, 1814. 3 vols., 4° and 2° (315 x 240mm; atlas vol. 505 x 395mm). Half-titles, uncut, 9 engraved plates in the text volumes after W. Westall, atlas volume with 16 folding and double-page maps, 2 folding plates of coastal and headland views, and 10 double-page plates of plants after Ferdinand Bauer and engraved by Elizabeth Byrne, Pye and Sansom. (Plates in text vols. slightly browned, occasional light spotting, a few small tears neatly repaired plate 16 lightly soiled at lower corners.) Text volumes in modern full tree calf, atlas volume in half tree calf with marbled paper boards, gilt spines, red leather labels with on-laid green volume label, original paper title label affixed to front atlas cover. Provenance: one plate stamped "Portico" on verso (small stamp discreetly erased from some plates).
FIRST EDITION of "the most outstanding book on the coastal exploration of Australia" (J. Wantrup, Australian Rare Books, p.144). Flinders sailed from England on 18 July 1801, and during the next two years he surveyed the entire coast of Australia from Cape Leeuwin to Bass Strait. Although his voyage was beset by unreliable ships, he returned to Port Jackson in 1803 after completing the first circumnavigation of Australia, thus establishing it as a continent. Flinders devoted the remainder of his life to the publication of the Voyage to Terra Australis, which was formally published the day before his death on 19 July 1814. It is a day-by-day record of the expedition and includes a lengthy introduction detailing earlier South Seas voyages and an appendix by Robert Brown, the botanist accompanying the expedition. Brown's work, General Remarks ... on the Botany of Terra Australis was later published separately as well. Flinders took great pain over the accuracy of the work, and the charts contained in the atlas were used for navigation for over a century. The Voyage to Terra Australis was of monumental cartographical significance and "is the centrepiece of any collection of books dealing with Australian coastal discovery" (Wantrup, p.144). The three volumes were originally published in both large-paper (150 copies) and normal (1000 copies) issues, with the normal issue in paper boards costing £8.8.0. The atlas accompanying the present copy is in the small format with the plates folded. Ferguson 576; Ingleton 6487; Wantrup pp. 138-144; Hill p.106. (3)