Details
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK (1728-1779)
[FIRST VOYAGE] -- John HAWKESWORTH (1715?-1779). An Account of the Voyages undertaken... for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere.. London: W.Strahan and T.Cadell, 1773. 3 volumes. 4° (270 x 217mm). 4pp. letterpress 'Directions for placing the cuts and charts' in vol.I. 51 engraved plates, charts and maps (41 folding) bound without the 'Chart of the Streight of Magellan'. (Occasional light browning, two charts in vol.I shaved into plate area, one plate in vol.II detached.) Contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt with red morocco lettering-pieces (joints slightly split). Provenance: Joliffe (armorial bookplate).
First edition, ?intermediate issue. The earliest issue contains neither the chart of the Straits of Magellan, or the directions for placing the cuts and charts. The present copy conforms to the Hill Collection copy in having the directions but not the chart. The late issue contained both.
The work is primarily prized for the description, in vols.II and III, of Cook's first voyage: the expedition, under Cook's command on board the Endeavour, was of a largely scientific nature. They were "to sail to Tahiti in order to observe the transit of Venus across the disk of the sun, to determine the earth's distance from the sun, and also carry on the geographical discovery that John Byron had started. Entering the Pacific around Cape Horn, Cook reached Tahiti in 1769 and carried out th necessary astronomical observations... Leaving Tahiti in July, Cook discovered, named, and charted the Society Islands, and then... explored New Zealand, which resulted in a... detailed survey of the country. Cook then headed towards Australia and discovered and charted the eastern coast for 2,000 miles, naming the area New South Wales... Both Australia and New Zealand were annexed by Britain as a result... Cook had charted upwards of 5,000 miles of coastline... [his] discoveries won him prominence, promotion, and the opportunity to sail again": Hill p.139; Mitchell Library Cook 648. (3)
[FIRST VOYAGE] -- John HAWKESWORTH (1715?-1779). An Account of the Voyages undertaken... for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere.. London: W.Strahan and T.Cadell, 1773. 3 volumes. 4° (270 x 217mm). 4pp. letterpress 'Directions for placing the cuts and charts' in vol.I. 51 engraved plates, charts and maps (41 folding) bound without the 'Chart of the Streight of Magellan'. (Occasional light browning, two charts in vol.I shaved into plate area, one plate in vol.II detached.) Contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt with red morocco lettering-pieces (joints slightly split). Provenance: Joliffe (armorial bookplate).
First edition, ?intermediate issue. The earliest issue contains neither the chart of the Straits of Magellan, or the directions for placing the cuts and charts. The present copy conforms to the Hill Collection copy in having the directions but not the chart. The late issue contained both.
The work is primarily prized for the description, in vols.II and III, of Cook's first voyage: the expedition, under Cook's command on board the Endeavour, was of a largely scientific nature. They were "to sail to Tahiti in order to observe the transit of Venus across the disk of the sun, to determine the earth's distance from the sun, and also carry on the geographical discovery that John Byron had started. Entering the Pacific around Cape Horn, Cook reached Tahiti in 1769 and carried out th necessary astronomical observations... Leaving Tahiti in July, Cook discovered, named, and charted the Society Islands, and then... explored New Zealand, which resulted in a... detailed survey of the country. Cook then headed towards Australia and discovered and charted the eastern coast for 2,000 miles, naming the area New South Wales... Both Australia and New Zealand were annexed by Britain as a result... Cook had charted upwards of 5,000 miles of coastline... [his] discoveries won him prominence, promotion, and the opportunity to sail again": Hill p.139; Mitchell Library Cook 648. (3)