VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD: but more Particularly to the North-West Coast of America :Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and Dixon. Dedicated, by Permission, to Sir Joseph.
London: Geo. Goulding, 1789.
1st Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author(s). Dixon, Captain George. VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD: but more Particularly to the North-West Coast of America: Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock: London Geo. Goulding, 1789. Excellent example. First Edition. Tall copy, 11" 1/8. Quarto pp.xxix, [1]blank, [1 leaf]errata & directions to binder, 360, 47. with half-title. 5 folding engraved maps & bound with 17 engraved plates, 3 of which are folding & 1 of which [Cape St. James p.214] was never originally bound in & now supplied in excellent facsimile. Large [24.5 x 35 inches] folding frontispiece chart. Half-title page present. Errata on recto and instructions to binder on verso of unpaged leaf following introduction. Account of the voyage of the "Queen Charlotte" in a 4-year expedition from England to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) and China via the Pacific Northwest. Contemporary calf sumptuously bound with an ornately decorated & tooled spine with 5 ship devices in compartments, black leather labels, tree calf boards with braided rope gilt border. Beautiful marbled endpapers. An excellent example showing minimal use & wear at the tips. "Portlock and Dixon, who had been with Captain Cook, made this expedition to the northwest coast of America to collect furs for a group of London merchants. Portlock, the Commander-in-Chief, was on the King George. The expedition left Gravesend August 29, 1785, and arrived at the Sandwich Islands via Cape Horn in May 1786. The mouth of Cook's River in Alaska was reached July 18 and the rest of the summer was spent in sailing down the Coast as far as Nootka Sound. The expedition wintered in the Sandwich Islands and in 1788 proceeded to Prince William Sound where they met Captain Meares. The vessels parted company in May, with Portlock exploring the Alaskan coast and Dixon sailing again for Nootka Sound, where he named 'Dixon's Entrance' and the 'Queen Charlotte Islands.' The furs were sold in Canton, China, and both ships, after a most successful voyage, arrived back in England by way of Cape Good Hope in the summer of 1788. "The account, except for the introduction by Dixon and the two appendices, is in a series of forty-nine letters signed 'W.B.' The writer was William Beresford, a Quaker who, says Dixon in his introduction, 'has been totally unused to literary pursuits, and equally so to a sea-faring life.' Notwithstanding this, his letters, corrected by Dixon on nautical points, make good reading and the book is an excellent authority for the early days of fur trading on the northwest coast" (Streeter). Dixon also contributed the valuable maps. The work is sometimes confused with Portlock's account of the voyage, published the same year under the same title. Bell B204. Howes D-365. JCB II 3270. Sabin 64390 [vide PORTLOCK]. JCB II 3270. Smith 779. Strathern & Edwards 37. TPL 593. Hill p. 23. Lada-Mocarski 43. Lande 960. Streeter VI 3484. Story p. 217. A superior, beautiful copy. Fine entry slipcase supplied.
Item #30898 Price: US$9,300.00