A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, Undertaken By the Command of His Majesty, for Making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere : Performed Under the Direction of Captains Cook, Clerke, and Gore, in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, 1780

Captain James Cook

Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, 1818.

2 volume set. Philadelphia: Robert Desilver, J. Maxwell, printer. 1818. 2 v. : ill., ports. ; 22 cm. V. 1 [I-XXXV] (37-445) V. 2 (1-350) 8vo. Quarterbound in imitation brown leather. Contemporary brown leather boards. Black leather title stamp on spines with gilt lettering. Tight binding and solid boards. Minimal shelf wear. Light rubbing to boards. Minor wear to title stamps. Bumping to corners. Endpapers replaced. Inscription of one, "F. Bollmann, Williamsport, Pennsylvania" dated "1828" on preliminary page of Volume 1. Copper plate engraving of Capt. James Cook, F.R.S. adjacent to title page in Volume 1. Hand drawn ink sketch of a 19th century cannon on final page of volume. Intricate calligraphic sketch of a swan on preliminary page of Volume 2. Owners inscription is repeated several times in calligraphy on the next page. Copper plate engraved portrait of Captain Charles Clerke adjacent to title page. Foxing, browning.

Though Capt. James Cook (1728-1779) started life as a deck hand in a coal boat, he rose to positions of high command in the British navy and made some of the greatest discoveries of the 18th century. In 1776, Cook was ordered to search for a western entrance to the fabled Northwest Passage across America. This trek brought him to Hawaii, the Oregon coast, and far north, past the Bering Strait. The ships left the American coast on Oct. 26, 1778, without having found a Northwest Passage. After he was killed in a dispute with natives upon returning to Hawaii, Cook's crew made another unsuccessful attempt to explore the arctic. Cook wrote these first two volumes on the voyage before his untimely death. A later, third volume was written by Captain James King. More commonly published was a 3 volume collection containing an additional folio-size book of maps and plates. American printings of Cook's voyages have always been scarce; the first American publication of Cook's 3rd voyage was a 1783 Philadelphia reprint of Rickman published by R. Bell, which was described as "a miserable edition" in the Gentleman's Magazine. Another edition appeared in New York in 1796, published by Tiebout and O'Brien for Benjamin Gomez. Plates engraved after the English edition by G. Shallus of 90 South Third St., Philadelphia. Despite the title page calling for 40 engravings, the work is complete with a total of 38 plates. Please feel free to view our photographs of this exceptional collection.