Details
CAPTAIN JAMES COOK (1728-1779)
A complete set of Cook's Voyages, comprising:

[FIRST VOYAGE] -- John HAWKESWORTH (?1715-73). An Account of the Voyages undertaken ... for making discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. London: for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. 3 volumes, 4° (283 x 224mm). 51 engraved plates, maps and charts, one double-page, one double-page folding and 38 folding. (Lower margin of chart of Islands of Otaheite in vol.I partly torn away touching border, small hole in inner gutter of title in vol.II, occasional light browning, soiling or spotting). FIRST EDITION, EARLY ISSUE, without the 'Directions' leaf or chart of the Straits of Magellan. Beddie 648; Franklin 4; Hill 782; Sabin 30934.

[SECOND VOYAGE] -- James COOK. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world ... in the years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777. 2 text volumes, 4° (287 x 228.), and one atlas volume, 2° (483 x 316mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait in vol.I, folding letterpress table, 62 plates. (Text vols. lightly spotted, stronger at beginning and end, many plates in atlas vol. lightly waterstained and with light marginal soiling). FIRST EDITION. Beddie 1216; Franklin 23; Hill 358; Sabin 16245.

[THIRD VOYAGE] -- James COOK and Captain James KING (c.1750-1748). A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean ... for making discoveries in the northern hemisphere. London: by W. and A. Strahan, for G. Nicol and T. Cadell, 1784. 3 text volumes, 4° (288 x 233mm)., and one atlas volume 2°. 24 engraved plates, maps and charts, all but 7 folding and one folding letterpress table in text volumes. 63 engraved plates and charts, including 2 double-page in atlas volume. (Clean tear across c 2/3 of title and closed tears on verso of 3B2 in vol.I, light spotting or occasional light staining, a little stronger in vol.III). Provenance: Royal Scottish Geographical Society (blindstamp on one plate). FIRST EDITION. Beddie 1543; Franklin 47; Hill 361; Sabin 16250.

Together 10 volumes. Uniformly bound in modern speckled calf, contrasting morocco lettering-pieces.

A set of FIRST EDITIONS of Cook's voyages, which form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. 'Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors together had done. He was the first really scientific navigator, and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge' (Hill 358). (10)

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