[COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE]. An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the order of His Present Majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, and Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour: Drawn Up From the journals which were kept by the several Commanders, And from the Papers of Joeph Banks, Esq. [3 volumes]

Cook's First Voyage

Accounts of the not-yet-famous Cook

[Three Volumes]. Quarto. 12 x 9 inches. [20], xxxvi, [4], 456 + [4] xiv, 410 + [4], 395, [3]. 52 charts and plates, collated complete. Original calf rebacked in antique style calf, maroon leather spine labels, marbled endpapers. Library bookplates in front cover of each volume, oval library stamps on verso of folding frontis map, title page, and p. 3 of vol. I, on title page and p. 1 of vol. II, on title page and p. 7 of vol. III. Small chip to bottom edge of one plate in Vol. II, not affecting image, closed tear to large folding map in vol. III. A few minor dampstains to top edge, some light offsetting from plates. General wear to covers and corners. Overall, a very good set, internally quite bright and crisp.

Second edition, published the same year as the first. Considered the best edition (by Hill). Includes the chart of the Straight of Magellan that the first edition does not. Also includes a preface to the second edition containing a reply from Hawkesworth to a letter from Mr. Dalrymple about some groundless imputations in his account of the late voyages to the South Seas. The official account of the first voyage of the not-yet-famous Cook, as prepared by Hawkesworth, upon commission of the British Admirality. The voyage was primarily scientific in nature, intending to sail to Tahiti to observe the transit of Venus, calculate the distance of the earth from the sun, and to continue the geographical discovery begun by Byron. After leaving Tahiti, Cook discovered, named, and charted the Society Islands, then continued on to New Zealand and Australia. The first volume contains narratives of the voyages of Byron, Wallis, and Carteret, while the second and third volume relates to Cook. [Beddie: 650; Hill: 783; Sabin: 30934].