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OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK'S THREE VOYAGES

Code: 10174

OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK'S THREE VOYAGES BOUND IN CONTEMPORARY STATE.

Cook (Captain James R.N. F.R.S.) Complete Set of the Official Accounts of his Three Voyages Round the World, FIRST EDITIONS, 8 vols, 4to, each narrative bound in contemporary calf, and folio atlas bound in contemporary calf, rebacked to style of the 3rd voyage, together ,9 vols, London, 1773-84

I. Hawkesworth (Dr. John editor) Account of Voyages performed in the "Dolphin" and "Swallow" and "Endeavour" by Byron 1764-66; Wallis, 1766-68; Carteret 1766-69; and Cook 1768-71, 53 engraved charts and plates, 3 vols, 4to, contemporary calf, gilt lined panelled spines, red letter-pieces(slight wear to the head of the spines),London, 1773

This set contains the "Chart of the Straights of Magellan" also the list of plates.

II. Cook (Capt. James) Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World in the "Resolution" and "Adventure", 1772-75,[edited by John Douglas, Bishop of Salisbury] 64 engraved charts and plates, 2 vols, 4to, contemporary mottled calf, spines fully tooled in gilt, yellow labels,(small library stamps on the title-page and rear) London, 1777

III. Cook (Captain James) and Captain James King Voyage to the Pacific Ocean for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere in the "Resolution" and "Discovery", 1776-80, 3 vols, 4to, contemporary calf, green letter-pieces(slight repairs to the joints, also the heads and tails), containing 24 charts and maps and folio atlas, with 2 maps and 61 copper engraved plates, atlas bound in contemporary calf, rebacked to style, London 1784

Contains the Death of Captain Cook plate,which has been trimmed to size and placed in text volume. also added is the track chart which has been folded.

Beddie's Bibliography of Captain James Cook Nos .648, 1216 and 1543. Holmes Bibliography 5,24,47.

First Voyage, H.M.S. “Endeavour”, 1768-1771: The publicity stated object of the expedition was to observe the Transit of Venus across the sun, but the secret purpose was the search for the mythical Great Southern Continent supposed to lie somewhere between New Holland and South America.

“Endeavour” Left Plymouth on 25th August 1768; among those aboard were Sir Joseph Banks, the naturalist Daniel Solander, and the artist Sydney Parkinson. After completing observations at Tahiti, they sailed westward. On 8th October 1769 Cook became the first European to set foot on New Zealand. They continued to the west and on 19th April 1770, the east coast of New Holland came into European view for the first time, thus determining the limits of the Pacific basin. Cook named the land New South Wales.

Second Voyage, H.M.S. “Resolution” and “Adventure”, 1772-1775: To the Pacific, aided by new and improved methods of determining longitude and latitude, refined his discoveries in the South Pacific. The search for a Southern Continent continued and Cook determined once and for all that it did not exist.

“Resolution” and “Adventure” sailed from Plymouth on 13th July 1772. The complement included the naturalists John and George Forster, the artist William Hodges and the scientist Anders Sparrman. Cook made the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle. March to June 1773 were spent in New Zealand waters then they worked variously north and east to Tahiti. At Huaheine, Omai a native of Utietea Island, was taken aboard “Adventure” and accompanied them back to England. In 1774 Cook continued through the Pacific from New Zealand stopping at Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tahiti and the Tuamotus. Further discoveries were made which included southern islands of the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and Norfolk Island.

Third Voyage, H.M.S.”Resolution” And “Discovery” 1776-1780: Cook’s third Pacific voyage was as important for the exploration of the North Pacific as the first two had been for the South Pacific. It was also the best equipped both navigationally and scientifically, and resulted in the discovery of Hawaii which Cook himself regarded as his greatest Pacific discovery, and in the disproval of the existence of a navigable northern passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

The “Resolution” sailed from Plymouth on 12th July 1776, with Cook, John Gore, Lieutenants James King and William Bligh. The “Discovery” which sailed on 1st August under the command of Charles Clerke, also aboard were James Burney, George Vancouver, William Ellis, George Dixon, Nathaniel Portlock, Edward Riou and the artist John Webber.

First sailing south to check Kerguelen’s Land in the Indian Ocean near the Antarctic, they called at Van Diemen’s Land, and at Queen Charlotte Sound, New Zealand. In March 1777 the Island of Mangala in the Cook group was sighted, then in May they discovered the Haapai section of the Tonga Islands. The island of Tubuai was sighted on 8 August 1777.

Sailing north from Borabora they discovered and named Christmas Island on that day, and on 18th January 1778 had their first sight of Hawaii, continuing on to California, they sighted the coast on 7th March, in the vicinity of Drake’s New Albion. The ships worked there way up the American coast, passed through Bering Strait to latitude 70 degrees 40 minutes before ice made them turn back, surveyed a part of the Asiatic coast and the island of Oonalashka(Alaska).

Sailing south on 26th November 1778 they discovered more of the Hawaiian chain(Maui) then worked their way round the coast of Hawaii to Kealakekua Bay, anchoring there on 17th January 1779. On 14th February Cook was tragically killed in a shoreline skirmish with the native Hawaiians.

The long-delayed official account of the third voyage was so eagerly awaited by the public that it was sold out on the third day after publication, and though the published price was £4. 14s. 6d. as much as 10 guineas was offered by would be purchasers.