Beschreibung:

COOK, Capt. James (1728-1779).] [FIRST VOYAGE] - MAGRA, James, attributed to. A Journal of a Voyage round the World in His Majesty's Ship Endeavour, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771; Undertaken in Pursuit of Natural Knowledge of the Royal Society... London: Printed for T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1771.
COOK, Capt. James (1728-1779).] [FIRST VOYAGE] - MAGRA, James, attributed to. A Journal of a Voyage round the World in His Majesty's Ship Endeavour, in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770, and 1771; Undertaken in Pursuit of Natural Knowledge of the Royal Society... London: Printed for T. Becket and P.A. De Hondt, 1771. 4 o (268 x 206 mm). Modern half calf. FIRST EDITION OF THE FIRST PRINTED ACCOUNT OF COOK'S FIRST VOYAGE, EARLIEST ISSUE ACCORDING TO HILL This anonymous work was published just two months after the expedition's return to England and almost two years prior to Hawkesworth's account of the first voyage. The authorship of the work remains undiscovered, but it is most often attributed to James Magra or Matra, an American midshipman. The present copy contains the leaf after the title-page bearing the publisher's dedication to the Lords of Admiralty which was soon supressed at the request of Banks and Solander; Hill notes that the earliest issues of the book are found with this leaf. It further contains the two leaves of vocabulary at the end. Sabin 16242; Hill pp.157-8; Mitchell Library Cook 693; Holmes 3. RARE.