Text volumes bound in contemporary tan polished calf with double gilt borders Spines stamped and lettered in gilt. Gilt board edges and dentelles. Marbled endpapers. Edges stained yellow. Previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown of each volume. Plates with some light foxing. Volume I with some slight cracking to front outer hinge, but still firm. Atlas bound in modern tan calf to match three volumes. Overall, an excellent set; tall, clean and complete.
"Vancouver, who had served on Cook's third voyage, was made commander of an expedition whose express purpose was to reclaim wherever possible British rights to the Northwest Coast of America. Vancouver sailed to the Pacific via Australia, where he discovered and charted King George Sound and Cape Hood, passed Van Deiman's Land, and visited New Zealand, Hawaii and the Northwest Coast. During the course of three seasons, he surveyed Alaska and the Northwest Coast, investigated the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovered the strait of Georgia, and circumnavigated Vancouver Island.. He visited San Francisco, Monterey, and other Spanish settlements in Alta California ' (Graff).
"His voyage is important not only for the magnificent charts and splendid views that accompanied it, but also for the valuable and extensive amount of information that it provided on the Spanish settlements, the Indian tribes, and the physical features of the countries that he visited. It is one of the 'classics' of late eighteenth-century geographical literature" (Howell).
"Of all modern exploring voyages to the Pacific those of Cook, La Perouse and Vancouver were the most important" (Howes).
Cowan, p. 655. Graff 4456. Hill I, p. 303. Howes V23. Sabin 98443.
HBS # 64761 $65,000
