BEECHEY, Captain F.W

Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait...

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Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley London, 1831. Two volumes bound in one, quarto, with 19 engraved plates, four lithographed plates, and three engraved maps (two folding); both half-titles bound-in, with the rare errata slip called for by Forbes and Hill (at start of vol. II) but without the final leaf of publisher's advertisements not present in all copies; a little light browning or spotting to the plates (as often), but a very good copy in contemporary polished half calf, rebacked retaining original spine, a little chipped. First edition of 'one of the most valuable of modern voyages' (Sabin). HMS Blossom was commissioned as a relief expedition to Bering Strait to meet Parry and Franklin on their search for a northwest passage, and to explore the areas of the Pacific on her route. Forbes notes that 'perhaps the most celebrated portion of the voyage text is the narrative of the Blossom's stop at Pitcairn Island'.

The ship visited Easter Island, Pitcairn, and the Mangarevas (on which Beechey was the first European to land), sailed through the Tuamotus, reached Tahiti and made a stop in Hawaii. At Kamchatka Beechey learned of Parry's return, and spent July to October in Kotzebue Sound, tragically missing Franklin near Point Barrow, Alaska, by fifty leagues. The next year he continued his exploration of the Arctic, entering Kotzebue Sound from the west. His book gives especially good accounts of his visits to San Francisco, Monterey, Honolulu, and Okinawa. Forbes has discussed the book at length in the Hawaiian National Bibliography.

Beechey also describes his important visit to Pitcairn Island, and publishes the detailed description of the mutiny on the Bounty that was told to him by John Adams, the last of the survivors. This is one of the most important accounts of the mutiny and the fate of the mutineers, and this version of the history of the mutiny and events on Pitcairn is enlivened by two fine engraved views of the island by Captain Beechey himself, as well as the very famous portrait of Adams aged sixty-five, from an original sketch by Richard Beechey. There are also many other views, including one of California, and five of Okinawa.

This is the so-called "Admiralty" quarto edition, which preceded the octavo edition of the same year. This copy includes the fragile errata slip mentioned by Forbes and Hill, bound after the title-page for the second volume.
Ferguson, 1418; Forbes, 'Hawaiian National Bibliography', 772; Hill, 93; Judd, 16; Lada-Mocarski, 95; O'Reilly-Reitman, 849; Spence, 'Bligh', p.12; Zamorano, 'Eighty', 4.

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• 订书号：: 708_230

• 书商: Hordern House (AUSTRALIA)