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First editions. Collations as below. 10 vols. 4to text and folio atlases. [FIRST VOYAGE] HAWKESWORTH, John. 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. 51 engraved maps and plates, many folding. 3 volumes. 4to. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. First edition, early issue without the Straits of Magellan map. Contemporary speckled calf, sympathetically rebacked. Provenance: F. Norcliffe (armorial bookplate). Beddie 648; Hill 782; Holmes 6; Sabin 30934. [SECOND VOYAGE] COOK, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and Round the World. Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, In the Years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. 64 engraved maps and plates. 3 volumes. 4to text and oblong folio atlas. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777. First edition, rare issue with the maps and plates bound in an atlas. Contemporary speckled calf (text) and contemporary marbled paper boards (atlas), the atlas rebacked and retipped. Provenance: F. Norcliffe (armorial bookplate in the text vols); Richard Clarke (bookplate in the atlas). Beddie 1216; Hill 358; Holmes 24; Printing and the Mind of Man 223; Rosove 77.A1; Sabin 16245. [THIRD VOYAGE] COOK, James; and James KING. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. 24 engraved maps and plates in the text, 63 engraved maps and plates in the atlas. 4 volumes. 4to text and folio atlas. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1784. First edition. Contemporary speckled calf (text) and contemporary half calf and marbled paper boards (atlas). Provenance: F. Norcliffe (armorial bookplate in the text vols); Richard Henry Tidswell (circular armorial bookplate in the atlas). Beddie 1543; Forbes 85; Hill 361; Holmes 47; Howes C729a; Lada-Mocarski 37; Sabin 16250. A fine complete set of all three of Cook's great voyages of discovery: "the basis for any collection of Pacific books" (Hill). Cook's first voyage included visits to Tahiti and New Zealand, and the tracing of the east coast of Australia was one of the most perilous feats of navigation in the whole recorded history of exploration. The second voyage pushed further south than any previous navigators in search of a southern continent, as well as visiting numerous Pacific islands. The third voyage returned to islands previously visited, discovered Hawaii, and explored the northwest coast of America from Alaska to Oregon. The text of these official reports form an invaluable record of the voyages, but they are enhanced enormously by the Plates, maps, charts and views. "In three great voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was really the first scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge" (Hill). Besides being first edition of each, this set highly desirable as it includes the very rare separate atlas to the second voyage; almost all copies of the second voyage had the engraved plates trimmed and folded into the text volumes. We have seen only a couple of examples of this format, which represented a distinct and special issue of the book. The text has demonstrably never had engravings bound within it and the superb impressions can be seen to their best advantage in this folio format where they are unfolded and untrimmed. Collations as below. 10 vols. 4to text and folio atlases.
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