Forrest Captain Thomas (3 results)

Leather. 1st Edition. 1st ed., large quarto, pp.xxiii, (i), 388, 13 (vocab,), author fronts. portrait, 32 engraved plates including maps, topographical views and plans,many of which are folding, music in text page 304, book-plate, foxing and tanning to title-page and fronts. and several plates and maps, otherwise, contents and most pages generally clean condition, early full leather binding worn with spine later rebacked in leather. An early and important New Guinea voyage undertaken in the interests of the East India Company with extensive mapping of the previously unsurveyed coasts. Thomas Forrest (c.1729-1802?) was a British navigator with 'Company'. In 1770 Forrest assisted in the formation of a new settlement at Balambangan (Malaysia), which had been recommended by the Scottish geographer, Alexander Dalrymple. In 1774, with a crew of eighteen Malays, Forrest set sail onboard the Tartar Galley. He led the party as far as New Guinea?s Geelvink Bay, exploring the Sulu archipelago, the south coast of Mindanao, Mandiolo, Batchian and Waygiou, which he was the first to chart with any degree of accuracy. First edition complete with all plates and maps. Hill 623.

Hardback. Condition: Good+. First Edition. [5], vi-xxiii, [2], 2-388pp, [1], 2-13pp, [3]. Contemporary tree calf, recently rebacked with original label, smooth spine in seven panels divided by a gilt roll, gilt roll to borders of covers. Slightly rubbed, corners worn with slight loss to calf. Internally very lightly browned, some off setting from plates, light stain to margin of I2, but generally clean. Several small nicks and tears to top margin of several signatures, with occasional small amounts of loss (never affecting text). Folding plates have been guarded, occasional creasing to edges from folding. Armorial bookplate of Arthur W. de Capell Brooke to front pastedown. With an engraved portrait frontispiece engraved by Sharp after Sherwin, large folding map (with small hole to joint) drawn by Forrest and engraved by Fran.[cis] Vivares, with another thirty-one views, maps and charts by various hands but mainly engraved by Vivares after Forrest. For Vivares see Worms and Baynton-Williams, 'British Map Engravers', page 687. Brunet II:1345; Cox II:301; Lowndes 819, noting that it is "full on the physical and moral character of the inhabitants, and on their language, mode of life and trade" and Hill 623, noting that Captain Forrest "sailed in the 'Tartar', a native boat of about ten tons burden, with two English officers and a crew of eighteen Malays. He pushed the expedition as far as Geelvink Bay in New Guinea. The voyage was one of examination and enquiry rather than of exploration, and the additions made to geographical knowledge were corrections of detail rather than startling discoveries, but the tact with which he conducted his intercourse with the natives, and the amount of work done in a small boat, deservedly won him credit as a navigator" Size: 4to.

First edition. Quarto. pp. xxxiii,[1],388,13,[3]. With frontispiece portrait, large folding general map & 31 plates, maps & charts, most of which folding. Some occasional offsetting, and some minor foxing, the plates all neat. Bound in contemporary continental full tree calf with armorial crest to front board, the spine in six panels, gilt, with label and 19th C bookplate of V. Ganling, Ebnet (& his signature to recto of frontis) plus later 20th C bookplate. Lightly rubbed, with a small area lower front board with neat old repair & slight loss of gilt border. With a modern slip-case. VG. [Hill 623; Lowndes 819; Robertson 129; Hanson 62; Tomlinson & Gibson 208; Brunet 1345; Petherick 874; Cox II, 301; Markham & Rye 300; Taylor 431].