Narrative of the voyage of H.M.S. Rattlesnake, commanded by the late Captain Owen Stanley … during the years 1846-50, including discoveries and surveys in New Guinea, the LouisiadeArchipelago, etc. To which is added the account of Mr E. B. Kennedy's expedition for the exploration of Cape York Peninsula.

London,1852. First Edition, Two volumes octavo, folding engraved map, 13 lithographed plates (some tinted), after T.H. Huxley and others, Contemporary half calf, contrasting labels, Slight foxing, a very good set. Scarce.

The last and most difficult to find of the great exploration journals published by Boone during the heroic age of Australian exploration. The voyage of the Rattlesnake was one of the important series of scientific and hydrographical voyages to chart the coasts of Australia and New Guinea, continuing the work of Stokes on the Beagle, and Blackwood on the Fly and Bramble. The book is also of great value for its reprinting of William Carron’s extremely rare account of the tragic Kennedy expedition. It was the Rattlesnake which transported Kennedy and his large party to their point of departure on the Queensland coast. A number of the plates are after drawings by the famous scientist and colleague of Darwin, T.H. Huxley, who accompanied the expedition.

Ferguson, 11972; Wantrup, 145.