CHRISTIAN, Fletcher, supposed author

Letters from Mr. Fletcher Christian...

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H.D. Symonds London, 1796. Octavo, a few library stamps in the text, fore-edge margin of title-pageneatly restored, small hole in Contents leaf repaired; a fair copy recently bound in quarter calf, crimson morocco spine label, marbled boards. The very rare first edition of a fascinating spurious production, which masquerades as a collection of seven letters from Fletcher Christian after his "escape" from Pitcairn Island and subsequent adventures in South America. According to the letters printed here, Christian mingled with Peruvian nobles, studied Indian languages at St Jago and left Buenos Aires on a voyage to Spain.

It is interesting to note that despite the weight of evidence to the contrary, a tradition remains that Christian escaped from Pitcairn and returned to England via South America. Among the adherents to such a theory were Wordsworth and Captain Heywood, the latter being convinced he saw Christian in Plymouth, while Christian's relatives in Cumberland reported that he visited them in 1808.

This is an extremely rare book: it is recorded by the NUC, but without any locations noted; it is not recorded in the catalogues of the Kroepelien or Hill collections. There is no frontispiece in this copy: we believe this first edition to have been issued without any frontispiece, although one appeared in the second edition issued by the same publisher the following year. Ferguson calls for the frontispiece in the first edition, but neither the Edge-Partington copy nor a copy catalogued by Maggs Brothers in 1946 contained one.
O'Reilly-Reitman, 9318.

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