TRUSLER, John

A Descriptive Account of the Islands lately discovered in the South-Seas...

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for the author, London, 1778. Octavo; an excellent large copy, with the half-title, in contemporarysprinkled calf, spine very well restored preserving original label. Rare: privately printed, and one of the scarcest general works on Pacific voyages, published at the high point of English exploration of the Pacific. Trusler's 'primary source is Cook' (Hill).

The text is of particular interest as a contemporary treatment of the first two of Cook's voyages, undertaken, as Trusler notes in his preface, after Cook's departure on the third voyage. There are long and important sections on Tahiti, New Zealand and New Holland. This account is of especial interest for its inclusion of a section on "Camchatca, a late Discovery of the Russians". Trusler, that is, publishes information on Kamchatka at exactly the time that Cook was fulfilling his orders by charting the region himself.

A confusing myth about the book has it that it should contain a map, on the evidence of a supposed reference to one in the preface. The reference to "the chart" no more suggests that the book should have one than would a suggestion to look up train times in "the timetable" suggest that one should be in the book. A note in a Francis Edwards catalogue that the book 'sometimes contains Faden's map of the world published in 1775' is apparently based on the evidence of a single copy to have passed through their hands, and directly leads to the Kroepelien catalogue's doctrinaire collation, which insists on a map, while misquoting and clearly misunderstanding the Edwards note.

None of the copies we have traced contain the map (including the Sir Thomas Phillipps, Streeter and Hill copies); nor is one required by the authoritative bibliographer O'Reilly-Reitman.
Hill, 1719; Kroepelien, 1299; not in Beddie; not in Lada-Mocarski; O'Reilly-Reitman, 4407.

• AUD 18,750.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 701_790

• Antiquariat: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)