Details
Alexander Dalrymple (1737-1808)
An Historical Collection of the several voyages and discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. London: printed for the author, sold by J.Nourse, T.Payne and P.Elmsley, 1770-1771. 2 volumes in one, 4° (261 x 212mm). Letterpress including half-titles, 1p 'Contents.. Directions for placing the Plates' and 3pp. of errata at the end of vol.I. 4 folding engraved maps, 12 plates, 7 folding. (Small tear at fold of one map, small paper-fault hole to blank margin of one plate, occasional light browning to text.) Expertly bound to style in 20th-century speckled calf, spine gilt with red and yellow morocco lettering-pieces (spine somewhat faded). Provenance: Sale Bonhams, June 24, 1997, lot 180.
A fine copy, including both half-titles and the very rare 'Contents/Directions for placing the Plates' leaf. As Dalrymple remarks in the preface to vol.I, the collection 'is almost entirely a literal 0ranslation'(p.x) of Spanish and Dutch accounts of voyages in the South Pacific with particular reference to the existence of a Southern Continent. Pedro Fernandez de Quiros' account of the discovery of 'Australia del Espiritu Santo' in 1605-6, figures prominently. Dalrymple, the Hydrographer to the East India Company, was a rival to Captain James Cook for the position of leader of the expedition aboard the Endeavour to find Terra Australis. The present work was published whilst Cook was away and led to Dalrymple's election to the Royal Society. The work is a valuable summation of all the published information then available about the southern Pacific: its usefulness can be gauged by the fact that it was one of a select number of works that Cook chose to take with him on his second expedition. Hill pp.389-390; Kropelien 245; Sabin 18338.
An Historical Collection of the several voyages and discoveries in the South Pacific Ocean. London: printed for the author, sold by J.Nourse, T.Payne and P.Elmsley, 1770-1771. 2 volumes in one, 4° (261 x 212mm). Letterpress including half-titles, 1p 'Contents.. Directions for placing the Plates' and 3pp. of errata at the end of vol.I. 4 folding engraved maps, 12 plates, 7 folding. (Small tear at fold of one map, small paper-fault hole to blank margin of one plate, occasional light browning to text.) Expertly bound to style in 20th-century speckled calf, spine gilt with red and yellow morocco lettering-pieces (spine somewhat faded). Provenance: Sale Bonhams, June 24, 1997, lot 180.
A fine copy, including both half-titles and the very rare 'Contents/Directions for placing the Plates' leaf. As Dalrymple remarks in the preface to vol.I, the collection 'is almost entirely a literal 0ranslation'(p.x) of Spanish and Dutch accounts of voyages in the South Pacific with particular reference to the existence of a Southern Continent. Pedro Fernandez de Quiros' account of the discovery of 'Australia del Espiritu Santo' in 1605-6, figures prominently. Dalrymple, the Hydrographer to the East India Company, was a rival to Captain James Cook for the position of leader of the expedition aboard the Endeavour to find Terra Australis. The present work was published whilst Cook was away and led to Dalrymple's election to the Royal Society. The work is a valuable summation of all the published information then available about the southern Pacific: its usefulness can be gauged by the fact that it was one of a select number of works that Cook chose to take with him on his second expedition. Hill pp.389-390; Kropelien 245; Sabin 18338.
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