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. 2 volumes only (of 3, lacking folio volume of maps and plates), 4° (304 x 240mm). Half-titles. 9 engraved plates by John Pye, W. Woolnoth, S. Middiman and others after William Westall. (Plates somewhat browned and offset onto text, marginal tear to final leaf in vol.II.) Contemporary russia, covers with decorative border in blind including a large neo-classical roll with anthemion motif, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second and fifth compartments, the others with elaborate repeat decoration in blind, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, marbled edges.
FINE FIRST EDITION OF THE TEXT OF THE FLINDERS' DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AUSTRALIA. Wantrup calls Flinders' narrative "the most outstanding book on the coastal exploration of Australia" (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. He returned to Port Jackson in 1803 having completed the first circumnavigation of Australia, thus establishing it as a continent. Flinders devoted the remainder of his life to the publication of this work, which was formally published one day before his death on 19 July 1814. It is a day-by-day record of the expedition but also includes a lengthy introduction detailing earlier South Seas voyages and an appendix by Robert Brown, the botanist accompanying the expedition. Flinders took great pains to insure the accuracy of the work which is of monumental cartographical significance and "is the centerpiece of any collection of books dealing with Australian coastal discovery" (Wantrup, p.144). The two text volumes were originally accompanied by a folio volume of 12 plates and 16 maps. The complete three-volume set was orginally published in both large-paper (150 copies) and normal (1000 copies) issues: the present volumes have generous margins but are from the 'normal' issue. Cf. Ferguson 576; cf. Hill (2004) 614; cf. Ingelton 6487; cf. Nissen BBI 637; cf. Stafleu & Cowan 1806; cf. Wantrup, pp.138-144. (2)
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. 2 volumes only (of 3, lacking folio volume of maps and plates), 4° (304 x 240mm). Half-titles. 9 engraved plates by John Pye, W. Woolnoth, S. Middiman and others after William Westall. (Plates somewhat browned and offset onto text, marginal tear to final leaf in vol.II.) Contemporary russia, covers with decorative border in blind including a large neo-classical roll with anthemion motif, spine in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in gilt in the second and fifth compartments, the others with elaborate repeat decoration in blind, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, marbled edges.
FINE FIRST EDITION OF THE TEXT OF THE FLINDERS' DESCRIPTION OF THE FIRST CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF AUSTRALIA. Wantrup calls Flinders' narrative "the most outstanding book on the coastal exploration of Australia" (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. He returned to Port Jackson in 1803 having completed the first circumnavigation of Australia, thus establishing it as a continent. Flinders devoted the remainder of his life to the publication of this work, which was formally published one day before his death on 19 July 1814. It is a day-by-day record of the expedition but also includes a lengthy introduction detailing earlier South Seas voyages and an appendix by Robert Brown, the botanist accompanying the expedition. Flinders took great pains to insure the accuracy of the work which is of monumental cartographical significance and "is the centerpiece of any collection of books dealing with Australian coastal discovery" (Wantrup, p.144). The two text volumes were originally accompanied by a folio volume of 12 plates and 16 maps. The complete three-volume set was orginally published in both large-paper (150 copies) and normal (1000 copies) issues: the present volumes have generous margins but are from the 'normal' issue. Cf. Ferguson 576; cf. Hill (2004) 614; cf. Ingelton 6487; cf. Nissen BBI 637; cf. Stafleu & Cowan 1806; cf. Wantrup, pp.138-144. (2)
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