Complete Set of the Voyages

Text volumes 4to(300 x 230mm.) atlas, folio (560 x 410 mm) uniformly bound in an early binding of tan half calf gilt, morocco labels, together 9 volumes, A handsome uniform set of this major collection of voyages.

[FIRST VOYAGE] John Hawkesworth. An Account of the Voyages 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, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour. London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773, Second Edition, 3 volumes, 52 engraved plates, charts and maps (most folding or double-page, including “A Chart of the Straights of Magellan”)

Volume I contains the voyages of Byron, Carteret and Wallis, with the discovery of Tahiti, and volumes II-III contain Hawkesworth’s edited account of Lieutenant Cook’s voyage (he was only promoted to Captain on his return). Cook’s instructions for this first voyage were to observe the transit of Venus from Tahiti and to carry on John Byron’s survey and examination of the seas between Cape Horn and New Holland, but they did not extend to searching for Terra Australis. He did, however, add more than 5,000 miles of coastline to Admiralty charts for Tahiti, Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, and New Zealand, which he circumnavigated.

[Beddie, BCJC 648; Hill (2004) 782; Sabin 30934]

[SECOND VOYAGE] James Cook. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world. London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1784, Fourth Edition, 2 volumes, engraved portrait frontispiece of Cook by J. Basire after W. Hodges, 63 engraved plates, charts and maps (most folding or double-page), folding printed table, list of plates,

[Beddie, BCJC 1229; cf. Hill (2004) 358; Sabin 16245]

The official account of COOK’S SECOND VOYAGE and his first as commander of the Resolution (1772-1775). The journey was undertaken in order to further explore the Southern Oceans and ascertain whether there were any further land masses in the southern seas. Whilst doing this Cook was also to test John Harrison’s newly invented chronometer for the measurement of longitude. During the course of the voyage the expedition was to become the first to cross the Antarctic Circle, which it did three times. “The success of Cook’s first voyage led the Admiralty to send him on a second expedition which was to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible in search of any southern continents. Cook proved that there was no ‘Terra Australis’ which supposedly lay between New Zealand and South America but became convinced that there must be land beyond the ice fields” Hill .

By the time these volumes appeared Cook had embarked on his second voyage in the Resolution, which was eventually to end in his death on Hawaii in 1779, killed after attempting to take a local chief hostage in return for a stolen cutter.

[THIRD VOYAGE] James Cook and Captain James King. A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean… for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. London: Printed for G. Nicol and T. Cadell, 1785, Second and Best Edition, 3 volumes text and atlas, together 4 volumes, text with 24 engraved charts and plates (some folding), folding printed table, with 8pp. “A Defence of the arguments advanced, in the introduction to Captain Cook’s last voyage, against the existence of Cape Circumcision” by William Wales at end of volume 3, atlas with 2 folding maps, and 61, some folding).

By 1776, Captain Cook had already achieved fame, having commanded two scientific expeditions under the auspices of the Admiralty in conjunction with the Royal Society. The purpose of Captain James Cook’s third and last voyage, on board HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery, was to find the Northwest Passage, but the vessels were blocked by a wall of ice.Cook’s achievement in this voyage was, instead, the discovery of the Hawaiian Islands, the charting of Alaska’s coastline, and the exploration of the North Pacific up to 70° N.

Returning south to Hawaii, the ships anchored in Kealakekua Bay. A fight broke out after the theft of a cutter, and James Cook met his death in the ensuing melee. The expedition made another attempt at the Northwest Passage before returning to the Thames via China.

[Beddie, BCJC 1552; cf. Hill (2004) 361; Sabin 16250]