Beschreibung:

COMPLETE SET OF COOK'S VOYAGES. 1. [FIRST VOYAGE.] HAWKESWORTH, JOHN. An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. 3 volumes. 52 engraved charts, views and other engravings, mostly folding and some very large. Some browning to upper margin of title page, light spotting and toning throughout, mild offset from plates, small dampstain to title-page of volume III. FIRST EDITION. 2. [SECOND VOYAGE.] COOK, JAMES. A Voyage Towards the South Pole, and Round the World. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777. 2 volumes. 64 engraved plates, maps and charts, many folding or double-page, including frontispiece author portrait; folding letterpress table. Scattered toning, spotting & offsetting; ownership signature ("Mary Austen") to upper right corner of both title-pages. SECOND EDITION. 3. [THIRD VOYAGE.] COOK, JAMES, and JAMES KING A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. London: W. and A. Strahan, for G. Nicol ... and T. Cadell, 1784. 3 text volumes plus atlas. Text volumes with 24 engraved charts (13 folding). Atlas with 2 large folding charts and 60 engraved plates. Title pages of text volumes with some toning; some browning and offset to a few atlas plates, a few plates with worming at the center edge. 4to (276 x 228 mm) and folio (540 x 395 mm). All text volumes rebound in mottled calf, with red and green morocco labels to spines, spines lettered and decorated in gilt. Margins trimmed. Atlas volume in half calf over marbled boards, spine lettered in gilt. A COMPLETE SET OF THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNTS OF COOK'S THREE VOYAGES, being first editions of the first and last voyages and a second edition of the second voyage. It is virtually impossible to overstate the importance of these voyages, or to summarize them. The original purpose of Cook's renowned first voyage was simply to observe the transit of Venus. This was accomplished at Tahiti but six months were then spent on the coast of New Zealand, which was circumnavigated and charted for the first time, as was the east coast of Australia. Cook named New South Wales and naturalists on his expedition named Botany Bay. The second voyage disproved the myth of the existence of a further southern continent and made the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle. Numerous further explorations were undertaken and discoveries made including the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, and South Georgia. Knowledge of the South Pacific was given a firm basis for the first time and the maps made then remain valid today. The final voyage was directed principally towards the search for a Northwest Passage from the Pacific, culminating in Cook's death in the Hawaiian Islands. Hill 783, 358, 361; Holmes 5, 24, 47; Sabin 30934, 16245, 16250.