KING, Phillip Parker, Robert FITZROY and Charles DARWIN

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle...

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Henry Colburn, London, 1839. Four volumes (including the separate appendix to volume two), octavo, with eight folding maps by J. Gardner and J. & C. Walker, another map and 47 etched plates after King and Fitzroy as well as Augustus Earle, Conrad Martens, and others; a superb set in contemporary polished calf, spines elaborately decorated in gilt in compartments with double labels. A most attractive set: the first edition of the full narrative of one of the greatest marine and scientific surveys of all time.

The Beagle voyage of 1831-36 is renowned above all else because of FitzRoy's choice of Charles Darwin as naturalist. 'Fitzroy, who was more concerned with science than were many naval officers of his day, made it possible for Darwin to visit tropical lands and study their flora, fauna, and geology. The two men shared the same cabin and Fitzroy was attentive to the scientific needs and interests of the young Darwin. Fitzroy's violent temper and his conservative opinions on religion and slavery were responsible for some disagreements between them, but Fitzroy and Darwin remained on friendly terms...' (DSB). Many years later Darwin reflected in his autobiography that FitzRoy's character 'was in several respects one of the most noble which I have ever known' and expressed his immense debt to his time in the Beagle:

'The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career... I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind... Everything about which I thought or read was made to bear directly on what I had seen and was likely to see... I feel sure that it was this training which has enabled me to do whatever I have done in science'.

Publication of Darwin's journal had been urged by FitzRoy during the voyage. It was finally included as the third volume of the official narrative, which was under the overall editorship of FitzRoy, and it was in this form that Darwin's first published book was first issued (it was afterwards issued separately as Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle). Usually known today as The Voyage of the Beagle, it is without doubt the most widely read of Darwin's works and stands second only to the Origin of Species as the most often printed. It was also one of his favourites, as Darwin mused in his autobiography: 'The success of this my first literary child tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books'.

Volume I of the Narrative concerns the initial surveying expedition off the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, 1826-30, under Phillip Parker King in the Adventure, during which FitzRoy succeeded Pringle Stokes as commander of the accompanying Beagle. Volume II describes Fitzroy's continuation and completion of the survey with the Beagle alone in South America, Australia, New Zealand, Tahiti, and many other groups in the course of the circumnavigation. 'The surveys he carried out in South American waters established Fitzroy as a first-rate hydrographer and won for him the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society (1837). Because his marine surveys were accurate to such a high degree they are still used as the foundation for a number of charts of that area' (DSB).
Hill, 607; Norman, 584.

• AUD 78,500.00 > otras divisas
• nº de pedido: 504_863

• librero: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)