Lot Essay
Wantrup pp. 149-152. The folding chart of Bass Strait is the first chart of the newly discovered Victorian coast. Two engraved plates which illustrate the Lady Nelson's expedition to the Hunter River are probably after sketches by the colony's first professional artist, John William Lewin, who accompanied the expedition. 'Grant was the first navigator to pass through Bass Strait from the west and he discovered the Victorian coastline west of Bass's discoveries of 1797 and 1798 ... Grant's Narrative is a rare book ... It is of the highest significance to any collection of Australian books and no collection of books dealing with coastal discovery or with Victoria can be without it'. The rare leaf 'List of the Encouragers' 'is not found in most copies and is not known to Ferguson ... copies which include the leaf ... do not ... require the blank leaf d4 for completeness'.
![GRANT (JAMES): Narrative of a voyage of discovery performed in His Majesty's vessel The Lady Nelson ... to New South Wales ... including remarks on the hitherto unknown parts of New Holland ... an account of the origin of sliding keels folding chart of Bass Strait with hand-coloured route (small hole and stain at former fold, small corner repair), 4 engraved views and a portrait of Bennelong, (few plates spotted, one with marginal waterstain), hand-coloured engraved plate of the fringe crested cockatoo, large engraved plate of sliding keels cut and mounted in segments, (a few stains) on 4 leaves thick paper at the end, without the blank d4 but with the rare leaf 'List of the Encouragers' (title lightly soiled), modern half morocco, [Ferguson 375; Wantrup 75], 4to, London 1803](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2000/MEL/2000_MEL_01014_0335_000(022111).jpg?w=1)