![WEBBER, James [but John] (ca 1750-1793). [COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE] -- Views in the South Seas, from drawings by the late James Webber, draftsman on board the Resolution, Captain James Cooke, from the year 1776 to 1780. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for Boydell and Co., 1808 [but plates watermarked 1819 and 1820].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2007/NYR/2007_NYR_01820_0525_000(015325).jpg?w=1)
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WEBBER, James [but John] (ca 1750-1793). [COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE] -- Views in the South Seas, from drawings by the late James Webber, draftsman on board the Resolution, Captain James Cooke, from the year 1776 to 1780. London: W. Bulmer and Co. for Boydell and Co., 1808 [but plates watermarked 1819 and 1820].
Broadsheets (545 x 423 mm). Letterpress title and descriptions (some discoloration to tissue guards, some occasional soiling and pale offsetting). 16 hand-colored aquatint plates after Webber on Whatman paper. Original marbled boards, printed paper title label on front cover, later morocco backstrip and corners (some rubbing). Provenance: Helen Hay Whitney (bookplate); John Hay Whitney (bookplate; gift to Frank S. Streeter).
ONE OF THE FINEST COLLECTIONS OF VIEWS IN THE ANNALS OF PACIFIC EXPLORATION
A FINE SET OF THESE IMPORTANT EARLY VIEWS, WITH FRESH COLORING, later issue, on later watermarked paper. The son of a Swiss sculptor, the artist anglicized his name to Webber and his Christian name was John, not James as listed on the title. His views depict scenes encountered while employed as draughtsman on the third voyage. These plates were originally published by Webber himself between 1 August 1788 and 1 August 1792, although without the descriptive text. Boydell reissued the plates in the present form fifteen years after Webber's death in 1793. The present copy, like Abbey's, has later watermarks; Abbey does not distinguish this as a second edition, but rather as a later issue. Or, as Hill describes it, "The title page is dated 1808 in all copies, but the plate imprints are dated April, 1809, and the water mark dates vary widely copy by copy, apparently a feature peculiar to Boydell's color plate books." Abbey Travel 595; Hill 1837; Holmes 79; Mitchell Library Cook 1872; Tooley 501.
Broadsheets (545 x 423 mm). Letterpress title and descriptions (some discoloration to tissue guards, some occasional soiling and pale offsetting). 16 hand-colored aquatint plates after Webber on Whatman paper. Original marbled boards, printed paper title label on front cover, later morocco backstrip and corners (some rubbing). Provenance: Helen Hay Whitney (bookplate); John Hay Whitney (bookplate; gift to Frank S. Streeter).
ONE OF THE FINEST COLLECTIONS OF VIEWS IN THE ANNALS OF PACIFIC EXPLORATION
A FINE SET OF THESE IMPORTANT EARLY VIEWS, WITH FRESH COLORING, later issue, on later watermarked paper. The son of a Swiss sculptor, the artist anglicized his name to Webber and his Christian name was John, not James as listed on the title. His views depict scenes encountered while employed as draughtsman on the third voyage. These plates were originally published by Webber himself between 1 August 1788 and 1 August 1792, although without the descriptive text. Boydell reissued the plates in the present form fifteen years after Webber's death in 1793. The present copy, like Abbey's, has later watermarks; Abbey does not distinguish this as a second edition, but rather as a later issue. Or, as Hill describes it, "The title page is dated 1808 in all copies, but the plate imprints are dated April, 1809, and the water mark dates vary widely copy by copy, apparently a feature peculiar to Boydell's color plate books." Abbey Travel 595; Hill 1837; Holmes 79; Mitchell Library Cook 1872; Tooley 501.