We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description.
We guarantee the authenticity and completeness of all items (unless otherwise described), and are happy to provide a certificate to this effect. All items can be assumed to be in good condition, with any defects being described in our description.
On the birthday of Captain Cook, we look back at an article from the archive by our Travel expert (and fount of bibliographic knowledge), Julian Mackenzie, in which he explored how Cook changed the face of exploration forever.
Whitby, a small town on the East coast of Yorkshire, has a fame which belies its modest population (circa 13,000). The ruined Abbey on a hill above the town is where Count Dracula came ashore in England in Bram Stoker's novel. It was the Synod of Whitby, between the Roman and Celtic Churches in 664 that determined the dates of Easter. It is also the breeding ground for some of the finest oysters in England. Its greatest fame, however, is the adopted town of Captain James Cook - a man who can fairly claim to be the greatest explorer of the modern era - and where his first great ship, HMS Endeavour, was built.
In three great voyages, Cook did more to clarify the geographical knowledge of the southern hemisphere for Europeans than all his predecessors had done together. He was the first scientific navigator, and his voyages greatly contributed to many fields of knowledge.
The first voyage (1768-1772) under Cook’s command on the Endeavour was primarily scientific, the mission being to observe the transit of Venus at Tahiti. Having carried out his duties, Cook sailed on to New Zealand, which he circumnavigated and surveyed, before going on to Australia where he discovered and named New South Wales. Both Australia and New Zealand were annexed as a result of this voyage, which was also notable at the time because none of the crew had died from scurvy.
The second voyage (1772-1776) on HMS Resolution, accompanied by the Adventure, was an expedition searching for a southern continent. Cook disproved the existence of the fabled Terra Australis, supposed to exist between New Zealand and South America, but became convinced that there was land beyond the ice-fields. This expedition became the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. From here Cook would discover, and rediscover, Easter Island, the Marquesas, New Hebrides, Tahiti, Tonga, and many other island groups. After rounding Cape Horn, he discovered and charted South Georgia. It was this voyage, which produced a vast amount of information concerning the Pacific peoples and islands, that would prove the value of the chronometer as an aid in determining longitude.
Cook’s third and final voyage (1776-1780), also undertaken on the Resolution and later joined by the Discovery, was an expedition in search of the Northwest Passage with a remarkable crew, including William Bligh, George Vancouver and James Burney. After calling at Tasmania and New Zealand, Cook sailed north, discovering Christmas Island and the Sandwich Islands, (later named the Hawaiian Islands). Cook charted the American West coast from Northern California through the Bering Strait before being stopped by pack ice at latitude 70° 44'. It was in 1779, whilst wintering over at Hawaii that he was killed in a fracas with natives over a boat, during which he attempted to kidnap and ransom their king, Kalani'ōpu'u.
His discoveries aside, Cook’s lasting legacy lies in the formation of the Royal Navy Survey Squadrons and the admiralty charts that laid the basis for all modern expeditions up to modern times: a direct compliment to his great skill as a draughtsman and surveyor.
Captain Cook's three great voyages form the basis of any collection of Pacific books.
Discover more: Captain Cook
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'Exceedingly rare' (Holmes). Issued some seven years after the first edition of the author's Account of the Russian Discoveries between Asia and A...
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Rare surreptitious account of Cook's Third Voyage . A rare surreptitious account of Cook's Third Voyage which appeared nearly three years before th...
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First octavo edition of the Third Voyage. The first octavo edition of Cook's Third Voyage and the first to reach a wide audience. The text is sligh...
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Scarce. The French edition of Marras' Journal, possibly translated by Anne Francois Joachim de Fréville. Published anonymously and surreptitiously...
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Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery was based on the illicit copy of his journal that Rickman (Second Lieutenant on the Discovery...
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Sparrman's work includes accounts of his travels inland from the settlement at the Cape of Good Hope and as assistant naturalist to Johann Forster...
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First edition in Spanish. 2 volumes, small 4to, [ii], x, 262, [i]; [ii], 288, [i] pp., contemporary vellum, spine lettered in ink, a little light...
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Includes Cook's paper on the prevention of scurvy. A work of huge importance for the inclusion of Captain Cook's paper on the prevention of scurvy....
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Tahiti depicted as an earthly paradise. Rare. ESTC lists 12 copies only. Author attribution from old note to title. One of the less common poetic o...
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Both volumes with a different collation to that given in Forbes. First edition in French. 2 volumes, 8vo, lvi, 458; [iv], 497, [i] pp., light wa...
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Good unsophisticated example. First edition of the first published account of Cook's first circumnavigation, published two months after the return ...
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An officer's account - a legendary Cook rarity. The rarest of all the surreptitious accounts of Cook's voyages, issued with a title phrased to misl...
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First Swedish editions of Cook's voyages. An attractively bound first edition set of Cook's voyages in Swedish.Three works: I. 2 vols in one, [xxvi...
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Wales' attack on Forster. One of the rarest items concerning the Second Voyage. 'Wales, who was the astronomer in the Resolution, challenges the a...
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Rare oval variant of the well-known Bartolozzi engraving of Cook's death. Webber completed his oil painting of the scene soon after returning t...
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One of the most famous shipwreck disasters in the eighteenth century, the Guardian was wrecked on an iceberg twelve days out of Cape Town. Command...
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After plate 60 in the official account of Cook's Second Voyage: The Landing at Mallicolo, one of the New Hebrides published 1st February 1777. The...
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Complete set of the four sepia aquatints. John Webber, the official artist on Cook's Third Voyage, produced a remarkable body of work to illustrate...
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Join us as we journey through time to discover some of the rarest books in the world. The following texts have shown an extraordinary ability to survive, with some books having survived the ravages of flood and fire, and others counting only a single surviving copy.
The public perception of the East India Company, an organisation which was to become one of Britain's most notorious colonial ventures, was mediated by a collective of artists. Diplomatic wrangling, imperial posturing, trade and warfare became the subjects of a significant artistic movement, aimed at depicting and dissecting the Company’s involvement in the political and social life of the period.
The woods and rivers, hills and hollows of fiction constitute some of our earliest and most beloved memories: from the Hundred Acre Wood to the home of Mr. McGregor. Join us this Easter as we travel through the imaginary places and winding roads of children’s literature.
Welcome to TEFAF Maastricht: the fair that plays host to some of the most memorable treasures in the art world. With artworks that span over 7000 years, the event has an illustrious history, welcoming collectors and art loves alike for more than three decades.
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