Melling, Antoine Ignace
Paris: chez l'auteur and Treuttel and Wurtz, 1826-1830, 1830. Large Folio (22 1/2" x 16", 570mm x 410mm). Bound in half calf over marbled paper boards. On the spine, title gilt to two red morocco labels. Text block oblong. With 72 aquatint plates, each with the publisher's blindstamp at the lower right corner. Lithographic frontispiece of Antoine-Ignace Melling, 1830. Map of the region by Pierre Tardieu, 1830. Spine, hinges and extremities worn. Small tears to the covers. Heavy foxing and some offsetting throughout. Foxing interferes with several plates. Small stain to edge of the map. Label to the front pastedown indicates ownership by D. Zenonis de Vibon, 1856. Melling (1763-1831) was a painter, architect and voyager, born in Germany and raised in Alsace. At age 19, he traveled to Constantinople and became the Imperial Architect to the Ottoman Court, where he worked for 18 years. In 1803, he moved to Paris and was appointed landscape painter to Empress Josephine. In 1821, he was sent by the French government to document the Pyrenees and the 72 aquatint views in this work are based on the watercolors that he painted on his travels. The text was written by Joseph-Antoine Cervini. (Some examples are bound in an oblong format to match the text block.)
Hughes, Griffith
London: Printed for the Author, 1750. First edition, large paper issue. Folio (15 3/4" x 10 1/2", 404mm x 260mm). With 31 engraved plates; a double-page engraved map of Barbados, and 30 engraved plates of fruits, flowers, and marine life. Bound in contemporary mottled calf. Decorative gilt border with red morocco and gilt armorial inlays at the corners. Rebacked with the original backstrip laid down. On the spine, gilt lettering and six raised bands. Dentelles inside and red speckled edges to the text block. Extremities and hinges worn, tears to the spine. Foxing and offsetting throughout. Griffith Hughes (1707?-after 1750) was a Welsh naturalist and clergyman. Hughes was sent to Pennsylvania to lead several Welsh congregations in the colony. In 1736, he was assigned to St. Lucy's parish in Barbados, where he studied plants and wildlife. Over twelve years residing on the island, Hughes developed a thorough understanding of its trees and plants. The Natural History of Barbados was the first book to describe the grapefruit, calling it the "Forbidden-Fruit-Tree" and to coin the phrase "yellow fever." The work was printed in both large and small paper copies. The volume contains a list of subscribers, including the Prince of Wales, the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duke of Orleans. The position of the list of subscribers varies between copies with this one placed after the dedication leaf. Each plate is dedicated to a patron or subscriber, including a coat of arms. There is a head-engraving of Bridge-Town and woodcuts throughout. As a religious man, Hughes introduced some sacred texts in his descriptions of the flora and fauna. His cartographer was Thomas Jeffreys (1719-1771), geographer to the Prince of Wales, with engravings after art by Georg Dionysius Ehret (1710-1770). Hunt asserts that "the book is one to place beside Catesby's Natural History (1731[-47])." After returning from the Americas, Hughes received his BA from St. John's College, Oxford in 1748, and was appointed a Fellow of the Royal Society. Although he was praised by Linnaeus and multiple sources, some have questioned his accuracy as a botanist. Hunt: 536. Nissen: 950. Pritzel: 4319. Sabin: 33582.
Moore, Thomas: ed. John Lindley, illust. Henry Bradbury
London: Bradbury and Evans, Whitefriars, 1855. First edition. Large Folio (22" x 14 1/2", 560mm x 370mm). With 51 nature-printed plates, all printed in color by Bradbury & Evans with tissue guards. Bound in brown half morocco over brown cloth boards. On the spine, gilt, five raised bands with title gilt to the second panel. Marbled endpapers. Gift inscription to the top recto of the half-title page "Julia Rar from Edward Rar 1903." Extremities and raised bands worn, with scratching and discoloration to the back board. Foxing and offsetting throughout. This is "the first English attempt at applying Nature-Printing to Botanical Sciences," according to the editor John Lindley in the Preface. Henry Bradbury (1831-1860) was the eldest son of William Bradbury of Bradbury & Evans. He learned nature-printing (the technique of taking impressions from leaves, plants, and other life-forms and making a printing-plate from this impression) while studying at the Imperieal Printing Office in Vienna. Alois Auer, the director, had patented the process with his associate Andres Worring in October 1852. Bradbury returned to London, where he patented an improved version of the process. The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland was first issued in 17 monthly parts between June 1855 and September 1856. The text by Thomas Moore (1821-1887), curator of the Chelsea botanic garden and co-editor of Gardener's Chronicle, was edited by eminent botanist and horticulturalist John Lindley (1799-1865). Bradbury committed suicide at age 29. He left behind two unrealised nature-printing projects on fungi and trees.
Jerdon, T. C.
Roorkee: Thomason College Press, 1867. First edition. Octavo (9 3/16" x 5 3/4", 235mm x 145mm). Bound in modern half crushed red morocco over marbled paper boards. On the spine, gilt, five raised bands with title gilt to the second panel, and author to the third. Marginal worming, not affecting the text (pp. 236-260). Thomas Claverhill Jerdon (1811-1872), a British physician, zoologist and botanist, went to India as an Army medical officer with the East India Company in 1836. He corresponded with the naturalist William Jardine (1800-1874) on the ornithology of India and his scientific publications on the zoology of the subcontinent began in 1839. Lord Canning (1812-1862), English statesman and Governor-General of India, later granted Jerdon special leave to complete his major works on the vertebrata of India, "The Birds of India" (1862-64) and "The Mammals of India" (Roorkee, 1867). Having contracted an illness in Assam, India, he returned to England in 1870, where he continued to work on "The Reptiles of India" until his death in 1872.
Bérain, J.
[Paris] : Se vend chez Monsieur Thuret aux Galleries du Louvre, [ca. 1711?]. Oblong folio (13 1/4" x 16", 335mm x 405mm). With 15 engraved plates. Bound in quarter red morocco over marbled paper boards. On the spine, gilt decorative vine pattern. Title gilt to red morocco panel on the front board. Hinges worn and extremities rubbed. Jean Bérain the Elder (1640-1711) was a French draughtsman, designer, painter and engraver of ornament. Born in Austria, he was active in Paris, and was appointed royal designer to King Louis XIV in 1674. His style of light arabesques and playful grotesques was influential, used for Boulle marquetry, tapestries, furniture, costumes and festivals, leading to the European Rococo style. Each engraving has two designs for chimneys, some with a narrow, vertical wall panel in between. The plates are listed with numbers and letters, including some duplicates. They are likely a subset of a larger series of ornament designs dated 1700-1708. 11 prints are signed in the plate by Bérain, as the designer and G. I. B. Scotin (1698-1755), as the etcher. The publisher Jacques Thuret (1669-1738) was Berain's son-in-law. The dedicatee, Jules Houdouin-Mansard (1646-1708) was the celebrated architect of Louis XIV.
Bligh, William
THE LAIRD U. PARK, JR. COPY. London: George Nicol, 1792. First edition. Folio (11 3/4"x 9 3/8", 298mm x 240mm). With 8 engraved plates: portrait of William Bligh to the frontispiece, and 7 engraved plates of plans and charts (5 folding). Bound in modern quarter black calf over marbled paper boards. On the spine, five raised bands. Title and author gilt to tan morocco in the second panel. All edges of the text block gilt. A little faint rubbing to the extremities. Off-setting around the engravings. Foxing to the frontispiece and title page. Large closed tear in the plate of Otaheite. Vice-Admiral William Bligh (1754-1817) was an officer of the Royal Navy and a colonial administrator. The mutiny on the HMS Bounty occured in 1789 under his command. The mutineers, led by Master's Mate Fletcher Christian, set him and 18 loyal men adrift in an open launch in uncharted waters. Astoundingly, they all managed to reach Timor alive, after a journey of 3,618 nautical miles. "One of the most remarkable incidents in the whole of maritime history." (Hill) This is Bligh's official account of the mutiny, based on his journals. His original mission had been to collect bread-fruit trees from Tahiti and take them to the West Indies. They were intended to feed a growing slave population. Born in Philadelphia, LAIRD U. PARK, JR. (1922-2001) graduated from Princeton with a degree in engineering in 1947, after serving in WWII. He began his career in pharmacology and went on to manufacture laboratory equipment with Troemer, Inc. Purchased from his sale (the "Americana Library of Laird U. Park, Jr."), Sotheby's New York 29 November 2000, lot 33. Hill 135, Sabin 5910.
Cory, Charles B.
THE BRADLEY-MARTIN COPY, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. Boston: Charles B. Cory, 1880. First edition. Quarto. With 8 lithographed plates. Bound in the publisher's brown pictorial cloth gilt with beveled edges. On the spine, title and author gilt. Extremities and hinges worn. Head of spine starting. A piece of the tail lacking. Sunning to the bottom of the front board and to the spine. Two of the plates (Plumbous Thrush and Bahama Finch) laid in loose. Bookplate of H. Bradley Martin to the front paste-down. Montague Chamberlain Collection bookplate partially obliterated. Presentation inscription by the author on the recto of the second free endpaper dated 1882. "6908" in ink manuscript to the copyright (verso of the title-page). Charles Barney Cory (1857-1921), was born to a wealthy family in Boston and took up ornithology at age 16. He made many trips to the Bahama Islands studying birds and collaborating with other ornithologists. This collection presents over 140 species. Cory was appointed honorary curator of the Field Museum in Chicago in 1893. Montague Chamberlain (1844-1924) was a Canadian naturalist, ethnographer, and amateur ornithologist. In 1883, he co-founded the American Ornthological Union, to which Cory belonged. H. Bradley Martin was one of the greatest book collectors of the twentieth century, collecting broadly and the best, particularly in ornithology. Purchased at his sale, Sotheby's New York, December 12-13 1989, Part V: lot 1483.
Amici, Domenico
Rome: G. Raffaelli, 1835. Oblong folio (12" x 18", 305mm x 460mm). Bound in brown cloth. Paper label to the front board with decorative gilt border and "Prezzo Franchi 25." With 40 engraved plates (dated between 1832 and 1841), each signed and dated (in the plate) by the artist. Extremities worn. Head and tail of the spine starting. Light stains to the front and back boards. Light foxing throughout, heavy on the first plate. Offsetting throughout. Not paginated. A new collection of ancient and modern views of the alma city of Rome, drawn from life and engraved by Domenico Amici presents prints of Roman monuments and historical buildings, such as the Colosseum, Vatican, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. They are dated between 1832 and 1841. Domenico Amici (1808-1871) was an Italian draughtsman and etcher. He studied the work of Italian artist Luigi Rossini, active in early 1820, who was known for his masterful etching and architectural draughtsmanship of Roman ruins.
Guignes, Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de
Paris: Imprimerie Imperiale, 1813. First edition in a western language. Folio (17 3/8" x 11 1/4", 441mm x 286mm). Bound in modern quarter blue calf over marbled paper boards (re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down). On the spine, six raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel. All edges of the text-block marbled. Marbled paste-downs. Re-backed, with most of the original back-strip laid down. Extremities lightly rubbed. Ownership inscription to the recto of the third front free end paper: "Natalis Rondot. 1847." Shelfmark to the top right of the same page "1852. R. 1039." Some ink marginalia and intralinear notes, with several Chinese characters corrected or rewritten. Chrétien-Louis-Joseph de Guignes (1759-1845) was the son of a great orientalist, sinologist and professor of Syriac. In 1783, he was the attaché to the consulate of Canton, and spent 17 years in China. This was the most complete dictionary of its kind in Europe, as well as a master-piece of typography. It was written from the Chinese-Latin dictionary of the Franciscan Basilius a Glemona, which remained in manuscript and reprodued more than 14,000 Chinese characters from the matrices engraved under the direction of Étienne Fourmont a century earlier. Fourmont (1683-1745) was a French scholar and orientalist, who published grammars on the Arabic, Hebrew and Chinese languages. Natalis Rondot (Lyon, 1821-1900) was a French economist, art historian, and numismatist, who participated in the first commercial mission in China from 1844-1846. He negotiated commercial treaties in China, India, Indochina, Malasia and Africa, and was named Chevalier of the Legion of Honor in 1847.
Smith, George, Rev.
London: Seeley, Burnside, & Seeley; Hatchard & Son; J. Nisbet, & Co., 1847. Second edition (first London edition). Octavo (8 3/8" x 5 1/4", 214mm x 145mm). With 12 lithographic plates, lacking the map of China. Bound in green half morocco over marbled paper boards. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Title and author gilt to the second panel. Marbled endpapers and all edges of the text block marbled. Diamond book-label of Wm. Payne, completed in ink with no. 43, the motto within a garter: "of making many books there is no end." Extremities and hinges rubbed. Light foxing throughout, especially at the verso of the plates. Plate of Chinese Gamblers detached. Rev. George Smith (1815-1871) was born in England, educated at Oxford, and appointed Vicar of Goole in Yorkshire in 1841. He joined the Church Missionary Society and sailed to China in 1849 with Thomas McClatchie, becoming the first members of the Society to travel there. Rev. Smith later became the first English Bishop of Hong Kong. William Harold Payne (1836-1907) taught in Michigan from 1858-1887. In 1879, Payne became the first professor of the Science and Art of Teaching at University of Michigan, and became the first Chair of Pedagogy in the United States.
Vizetelly, Henry Richard (as J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M. D.)
London: David Bogue, 1849. Second edition. Octavo. (7 6/8" x 4 1/2", 195mm x 115mm). With full-page lithographed map "The Gold Districts of Alto California" with yellow lines to indicate the gold regions. Bound in half speckled calf gilt over marbled paper boards. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Gilt lettering title to the second panel and author to the third panel. Extremities rubbed and light foxing throughout. Bookplate of James S. Copley on the front pastedown. David Bogue's advertisements at the rear. Henry Richard Vizetelly (1820-1894) was a distinguished, but controversial author and printer. Born in London, he was the son of a printer. While in San Francisco in 1849, he wrote this account of the Gold Rush under the pseudonym J. Tyrwhitt Brooks, M.D. It was convincing and published widely in Europe. It turned out to be a hoax. He wrote it in London, based on existing publications and reports. It was accepted as fact well into the twentieth cenury. Copley sale at Sotheby's New York, "Magnificent American, Historical Documents" 10 May 2011, lot 1059. Howes V134; Sabin 8350.
Audubon, John James
AUDUBON'S FIRST TWO PUBLISHED WRITINGS. Two volumes. New York: J. Seymour, 1824-1825; 1828. Octavo (9 1/4" x 5 3/4", 233mm x 145mm ). With 29 (of 29; lacking an initial plate and with two pl. 28's) engraved plates in vol. 1 (plate 11 hand-colored), and 6 engravings in vol. 2 with an additional unlisted plate tipped in at the back. Bound in contemporary marbled paper wrappers, rebacked with binder's tape. On the spine, paper labels mostly lacking. Wrappers on both volumes worn, with front wrapper of volume 2 detached. Foxing throughout. John J. Audubon came upon the Hirundo fulva (cave swallow) while traveling in Kentucky in 1815. He named it the H. Republicana, referring to its method of building nests and caring for its young. The Lyceum, founded in 1817, is among the oldest scientific societies in the United States. In 1876, it became the New York Academy of Sciences. The illustrations in the Lyceum encompass plants, animals and shells. Volume two contains three works by Audubon's advocate Charles Bonaparte, Napoleon's nephew, who encouraged Audubon to take his drawings to Europe for engraving. This move lead to the launch of Audubon's masterwork The Birds of America. PBA Galleries 2/10/2022, lot 7.
Catesby
London: W. Innys, R. Manby, and F. Hauksbee, 1731-1743. Two volumes. Folio (20 3/8" x 14"). First edition. Text in English and French, title-pages printed in red and black, dedication leaves in both volumes, "Preface" bound in at the beginning of volume one, first issue of list of "Encouragers" with 154 names bound in at the beginning of volume II, page numbers of 20 pages of text at the beginning of volume II corrected by hand as usual (bound without the Index, or the 44-page "Account"). With 200 hand-colored engraved plates heightened with gum arabic (vol. I, pll. 23 & 24 heightened gilt), and a double-page engraved map. Bound in contemporary mottled calf (re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down) with the armorial supra-libros gilt of the 1st Duke of Sutherland within the Order of the Garter to the front board. On the spine, 7 raised bands, title gilt to morocco in the second panel, volume gilt to the third. Re-backed, with the original back-strip laid down. Extremities and hinges worn, bands rubbed, covers scuffed. Some foxing and off-setting throughout. Engraved bookplates of the Marquis de Cortanvaux on the front paste-down of each volume, and his ink library stamps on each title-page and the verso of the last leaf in each volume. Mark Catesby (1683-1749) was an English naturalist, who studied the flora and fauna of the New World. He drew and engraved most of his illustrations himself for accuracy and economy. He writes in the preface that he believes the illustration to surpass the description in importance, and it is those illustrations that made the Natural History popular enough to go into two further eighteenth-century editions as well as continental piracies. Catesby's style might seem naïve, but they considerably surpass the stiff -- heraldic, even -- illustrations -- especially of birds -- that had come before. His juxtaposition of fauna against flora, bringing a sense of landscape as well as behavior, was groundbreaking, and of great influence on his successors, especially Audubon. Originally issued in parts, with the preliminary leaves, including the dedication leaves, the Preface, the list of "Encouragers", the map, the Index to the whole work, and the 44-page "Account" of the country, all issued in 1743 with the last part. It is often the case that some of these leaves are absent, or that they are found bound within the second volume, as is the case with the list of "Encouragers" here. Francis Caesar de Tellier, Marquis de Courtanvaux (1718-1781), came from an aristocratic French family and joined the army at age 15. He became a scientist, and later assembled a library of travel accounts, including his reviews. The present item is listed in his library of 1782, as item 676. The supra-libros is that of George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland (1758-1833), Knight of the Garter from 1771. He was a British politician, diplomat and patron of the arts.
Bradford, Duncan
Boston: American Stationers Company, 1837. First edition. Large quarto (12 3/4" x 10 1/2", 325mm x 270mm). With 14 engravings; 2 frontispieces of a telescope and the zodiac, 6 showing phases of the moon, and 6 folded, hand-colored zodiac signs and celestial charts. Quarter black sheep (re-backed, with the back-strip replaced by grey cloth) over marbled paper boards. On the spine, title and author on a paper label. Marbled endpapers. Wear to the extremities, with some scuffing to the boards. Foxing and offsetting throughout. Damp-stains to fore-edge, though largely not affecting the text. Pressed leaves between pages 30/31. Ownership signature in pencil "A. J. Copeland/ 1842" on recto of second free endpaper. In this early American guide to astronomy, Duncan Bradford sought to make the topic more approachable to the average reader. Although he drew from complicated, existing treatises, he used simple language and interesting information to appeal to a broader audience, including beautiful illustrations of the zodiac and phases of the moon.
Whitehead, John
London: Gurney and Jackson, 1893. First edition. Folio. With 32 lithograph plates, 11 hand-colored and 21 tinted. Bound in the publisher's pictorial green cloth gilt. Top edge of the text-block gilt. Extremities rubbed. Front free end-paper detached. Tanning throughout, especially around the plates. John Whitehead (1860-1899) was an English explorer, naturalist and professional collector of natural history specimens in Southeast Asia. He was the first documented person to reach the summit of Mount Kina-Balu in 1888, after several attempts. Between 1885-1888, he traveled to Malacca, North Borneo, Java and Palawan, where he collected zoological specimens, including 45 new species, many bearing his name. He later traveled to the Philippines, and died of fever on the Chinese island of Hainan. The book contains Whitehead's descriptions of his explorations and reprints of studies by other groups. Zimmer 673, Anker 528, Woood 626.
Martenet, Simon J.
Philadelphia: J. L. Smith, [1884] 1885. Large folded map in a quarto binding (46 1/2" x 73 1/2"). With hand-colored engraved map in 32 sections laid on publisher's linen and mounted in partial covers. Bound in publisher's brown cloth with gilt title to front board and marbled endpapers. Boards worn and spine starting. Tanning at folded seams with stains to the verso. Simon J. Martenet (1832-1892) was an American surveyor, mapmaker and real estate consultant who was born in Baltimore to a German mother and Swiss father. In 1867, he published an atlas and large map of Maryland, that was so accurate it was used by all the public schools in the state. Between 1856-1886, his company published many atlases and maps that were known for their detail and historical information. He used this information for real estate speculation. This map contains a key at the lower left, presenting 59 different symbols and abbreviations for subjects such as mills, factories, hotels, roads and railroads. There is a table of county populations at the 1880 census and soundings of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays. Ten city maps are inset, including Anapolis, Baltimore and Washington.
Tanner, Henry Schenck
Philadelphia: S. Augustus Mitchell, 1846. Folio (17 3/8" x 14", 440mm x 350mm). With 71 (of 72; lacking map 71: Palestine) engraved hand-colored maps. Bound in the publisher's half red morocco over marbled boards. On the front board, author and title gilt to a red sheep label. On the spine, six transverse gilt fillets, making six panels. Extremities worn, with loss at the head and tail. Front board starting. Tanned throughout, with some foxing. Some chips to the lower edge of the front free end-paper. A little offsetting and some pigment burn to the maps. Henry Schenck Tanner (1786-1858) was the pre-eminent American cartographer, engraver and publisher of his day, considered the Golden Age of American publishing. Born in New York City, Tanner was active in Philadelphia, and pioneered the field of cartographic epidemiology; his 1832 account of the 1817 cholera epidemic combined up-to-date maps with public health data to comprehend the spread of the disease. His accurate and detailed Universal Atlas (first published in 1836) went through several publishers, culminating in the present item, the first published by Samuel Augustus Mitchell.
Charlevoix, Pierre François Xavier de, P(ére)
Paris: Chez Nyon Fils, 1744. 6 vol. Second edition in this format. Duodecimo (6 1/2" x 3 3/4", 164mm x 95mm). Title-pages in red and black. With 28 folding engraved maps and 44 folding engraved botanical plates. Bound in 20th-century polished tan calf with triple gilt filet borders. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Title gilt to red morocco in the second panel, author and number gilt to red morocco in the third. Publication date gilt to the tail. Double gilt fillets to the edges of the boards. Gilt inside dentelle. Marbled end-papers. All edges of the text-block gilt. A few spots to the covers. Light off-setting around the engravings. The French government sent the French Jesuit priest, traveler and historian Father Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix (1682-1761) to explore the New World. After the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht, ending the War of Spanish Succession, the French dispatched Pere Charlevoix to recommend boundaries for Arcadia (present day New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Cape Breton Island roughly). The particular division of territory had important ramifications on trade and tribal politics. To that mission was added the Duc d'Orléans's quest for a maritime connection between the Great Lakes and the Pacific (the mythical "mer de l'Ouest"). These twin pursuits led Charlevoix through America, southward along the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers until he reached New Orleans in 1722. In the great Jesuit tradition, Charlevoix was careful in his work, gathering and citing primary documents and objects. The great number of his observations are first-hand, or at most second-hand. The maps are no exception; most were drawn by Nicholas Bellin (1703-1772), and reflect discoveries right up to 1743. Bellin was a French hydrographer, geographer, and later chief cartographer to Louis XV. (Parke-Bernet 2717-43 5/29/68. PBA Galleries 752-17, 10/29/2015. Howes C307. Sabin 12136.
Vancouver, George
London: G. G. and J. Robinson; and J. Edwards, 1798. 3 volumes (of 4; lacking the atlas). First edition. Quarto (11 5/8" x 9", 295mm x 230mm). With 17 engraved plates. Bound in contemporary half tree calf over marbled boards. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Author and title gilt to orange morocco in the second panel, number gilt to circular orange morocco in the fourth. All edges of the text-block marbled. Rubbed, with patches of wear at the extremities. Hinges starting. Faint foxing throughout and offsetting around plates. Remnants of a bookplate to the front paste-down of each volume. Manuscript shelf-marking ("N/II-11., -12., -13.") to the front paste-down of each volume. The voyage of Vancouver ranks with those of Cook (with whom he sailed) and of La Perouse and became one of the most important made in the interests of geographical knowledge. The H.M.S. Discovery was commissioned in 1790 with George Vancouver (1757-1798) in command. He had sailed with Cook on his second and third voyages (1772-1774 and 1776-1780) and was made commander of a grand-scale expedition to reclaim Britain's rights, resulting from the Nootka Convention, at Nootka Sound. He thoroughly examined the coast south of 60 degrees North latitude in order to find a possible passage to the Atlantic, and to learn what establishments had been founded by other powers. His assignment was both diplomatic and exploratory. Purchased at Bonham's New York, 10 December 2014, lot 58. Hill 1753; Howes V 23; Sabin 98443.
Vancouver, George
Paris: Didot Jeune, 1802. Octavo. (8 3/8" x 5 1/2," 215mm x 140mm). 5 voll. lacking vol. 4. French octavo edition. Complete atlas volume with 17 views and 9 maps of which 8 fold out, all engraved by Tardieu. Bound in marbled paper wrappers. On the spine of vol. I, author to a paper label on volume; number in red crayon to all volumes. Armorial bookplate to the front paste-down of each volume. Extremities worn, with some splits to the hinges. All edges of the text-block untrimmed. Very little foxing, except for the atlas volume. Plate IX bound in upside-down. The voyage of Vancouver ranks with those of Cook (with whom he sailed) and of Lapérouse and became one of the most important voyages made in the interests of geographical knowledge. The H.M.S. Discovery was commissioned in 1790 with George Vancouver (1757-1798) in command. He had sailed with Cook on his second and third voyages (1772-1774 and 1776-1780) and was made commander of a grand-scale expedition to reclaim Britain's rights, resulting from the Nootka Convention, at Nootka Sound. He thoroughly examined the coast south of 60 degrees North latitude in order to find a possible passage to the Atlantic, and to learn what establishments had been founded by other powers. His assignment was both diplomatic and exploratory. The voyage was initially published in English, Vancouver being a British citizen and acting on behalf of the crown. Lapérouse was French and so, despite the ongoing conflicts between the English and French, the market in France for the results of his explorations was robust enough to justify a translation. Bonham's 25263-58 (2019). Sabin 98441
Vancouver, George
London: G. G. and J. Robinson; and J. Edwards, 1798. 3 voll. (lacking the atlas). First edition. Folio. (11 1/2" x 9 1/8", 295mm x 230mm ) With 18 engravings: 17 landscapes and one map. Bound in straight-grained red morocco gilt. Borders and fleurons gilt to the boards with gilt inside dentelles. On the spine, 5 raised bands. Title gilt to the second panel, number gilt to the fourth. All edges of the text-block gilt. Green marbled end-papers. Red marking ribbon. Armorial bookplate of Arthur Scott of Rotherfield, to all three front pastedowns. Extremities and hinges worn. Skinning to the edges of the boards. Foxing and offsetting around the engravings. The H.M.S. Discovery was commissioned in 1790 with George Vancouver(1757-1798) in command. He had sailed with Cook on his second and third voyages (1772-1774 and 1776-1780) and was made commander of a grand-scale expedition to reclaim Britain's rights, resulting from the Nootka Convention, at Nootka Sound, to thoroughly examine the coast south of 60 degrees North latitude in order to find a possible passage to the Atlantic, and to learn what establishments had been founded by other powers. His assignment was diplomatic and exploratory. The voyage became one of the most important ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge. Hill 1753; Howes V 23; Lada-Mocarski 55; Lande 1495; Sabin 98443; Staton & Tremaine/TPL 688; Wagner I, pp. 239-50.
