First Edition in Contemporary Boards
Voyage to the South Sea. Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies, in His Majesty’s Ship The Bounty, Commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an Account of the Mutiny on Board the Said Ship, and the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew, in the Ship’s Boat, from Tofoa, One of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. The Whole Illustrated with Charts, &c. Published by Permission of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
London: Printed for George Nicol, 1792.
First edition. Quarto (11 1/4 x 9 inches; 286 x 230 mm.). [10], 264 pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Captain Bligh by J. Condé after J. Russell and seven engraved plates and charts (five of which are folding). Plate entitled "NE Coast of New Holland" trimmed close at lower edge affecting bottom edge of chart. Plate entitled "Sections of the Bread-fruit" trimmed close at bottom edge, affecting the caption.
Original half tan calf over contemporary marbled boards. Calf is tooled in gilt and blind. Spine stamped in gilt and blind, and lettered in gilt. All edges marbled. Marbled endpapers. Boards and edges a bit rubbed. Some minor cracking to tops and bottom of spine at the joints. Pages 13 with a small piece missing from upper outer corner, and page 15 with a small piece missing to upper margin, neither tear affecting text. Some minor foxing to pages 93-104. Some occasional offsetting from plates. Title-page with offsetting from frontis. Previous owner's bookplate on front pastedown. Overall a very clean crisp copy. In a blue cloth clamshell.
“An extremely important book. This is the first edition of the official account of the Bounty expedition. It includes a somewhat revised version of the text of Bligh’s narrative. The account was based upon Bligh’s journal but was written, edited, and seen through the press by James Burney, under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks, during Bligh’s absence from London while on his second breadfruit voyage. One bit of irony is that Bligh returned to Tahiti again to get more breadfruit, and, after delivering them to the West Indies, it was discovered that the natives did not care for the taste, much preferring their own bananas” (Hill).
"At the time I published the Narrative of the Mutiny on Board the Bounty, it was my intention that the preceding part of the Voyage should be contained in a separate account. This method I have since been induced to alter. The reason of the Narrative appearing first, was for the purpose of communicating early information concerning an event which had attracted the public notice: and being drawn up in a hasty manner, it required many corrections. Some circumstances likewise were omitted; and the notation of time used in the Narrative, being according to sea reckoning, in which the days begin and end at noon, must have produced a degree of obscurity and confusion to readers accustomed only to the civil mode. And this would have increased, as the remainder of the voyage, on account of the numerous shore occurrences at Otaheite and elsewhere, could not, with clearness and propriety, have been related in any other than the usual manner of reckoning. Besides remedying these inconveniencies, I have thought a fuller account of our passage from Timor to Europe, than that contained in the Narrative, would not be unacceptable. These reasons, with the manifest convenience of comprising the whole Voyage in one continued narrative, in preference to letting it appear in disjointed accounts, will, it is hoped, be allowed a sufficient excuse for having varied from the original intention. Nevertheless, for the accommodation of the purchasers of the Narrative already published, those who desire it, will be supplied with the other parts of the Voyage separate; i.e. the part previous to the Mutiny, and the additional account after leaving Timor." (From the Advertisement).
Ferguson, Australia, 125. Hill I, p. 27. Sabin 5910. Wantrup 62a.
HBS 68604.
$12,500.
Price: $12,500.00
Item #68604