About this Item
A complete set of the official accounts of Cook's three Pacific voyages, the second voyage in the first edition, the first and third voyages in the often-preferred second editions. "Captain Cook's three great voyages form the basis for any collection of Pacific books. In three voyages Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere than all his predecessors had done together. He was the first really scientific navigator and his voyages made great contributions to many fields of knowledge" (Hill). His contributions to the advancement of knowledge were widely recognized in his own time. Cook's many discoveries resulted in British claims in Alaska, British Columbia, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaii, the last of which he regarded as his most valuable discovery but where he met his death. "Cook earned his place in history by opening up the pacific to western civilization and by the foundation of British Australia. The world was given for the first time an essentially complete knowledge of the Pacific Ocean and Australia, and Cook proved once and for all that there was no great southern continent, as had always been believed. He also suggested the existence of antarctic land in the southern ice ring, a fact which was not proved until the explorations of the nineteenth century" (PMM). This set includes some noteworthy and interesting additions: proofs before letters of "A Man of Van Diemen's Land" and "A Woman of Van Diemen's Land", in strong dark impressions, beautifully inked, both in the first volume of the third voyage, with the captioned plates also present in the atlas volume. Bound as a frontispiece in the first volume of the third voyage is the stipple engraved portrait of Cook by Francesco Bartolozzi after John Webber, published separately in June 1784. - 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. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. Second edition. The primary purpose of Cook's first voyage in Endeavour was the observation of the transit of Venus from Tahiti, and then to continue the enterprise of geographical investigation begun by Commodore Byron. This was to result in the discovery of the Society Islands, the circumnavigation of New Zealand, and the charting of the eastern coast of Australia. "Hawkesworth, an eminent London author, was chosen by Lord Sandwich and commissioned by the Admiralty to prepare these narratives for publication. [He] was expected to add polish to the rough narratives of sea men, and to present the accounts in a style befitting the status of the voyages as official government expeditions, intended to embellish England's prestige as a maritime power" (ODNB). He was paid £6,000 for his labours. The second edition, following the first of the same year, includes a new preface by Hawkesworth in reply to a letter from Alexander Dalrymple and is sometimes preferred for that reason; in addition, the second and third volumes are separately paginated - in the first edition pagination was continuous across those volumes. - Second voyage: COOK, James, 1728-1779. 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. London: Printed for W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1777. First edition. The fame Cook had achieved by his first voyage allowed him to write the account of the second himself. It is the only one of the three voyages written directly by Cook, as the first was authored by Hawkesworth, and the third was published after Cook's death and derived from his journals. Historically, the second voyage is his most important expedition, conducted in search of the great "Terra Australis", a great southern landmass. In the course of the voyage he visited Easter Isl.
Seller Inventory # 138403
Contact seller
Report this item
