VIANA, Francisco Xavier de.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Diario, trabajado en el viage de las corbetas de S.M.C. "Descubierta" y "Atrevida", en los años de 1789, 1790, 1791, 1792 y 1793. First edition, in an exquisite contemporary binding, of the only detailed eyewitness account of the Malaspina Expedition (1789-94) - the most important 18th-century Spanish Pacific voyage - covering South America, the Pacific North West, South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and Tonga. "It is the only full and detailed printed account of Malaspina's voyage from California to Alaska by one of the participants... For some reason, Viana's diary was published on the traveling press of the Army besieging Montevideo, during the war between Argentine and Uruguay" (Lada-Mocarski, p. 458), being edited by Manuel Dribe from the manuscript then in possession of Viana's heirs. As Malaspina became embroiled in court intrigues upon his return, his own report was only published much later, in 1885. The Argentinian navy officer Francisco Xavier de Viana (1764-1820) joined the scientific maritime expedition of the Italian captain Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810), funded by the Spanish monarchy. Having left Cadiz in July 1789, they sailed to Rio de la Plata, via Montevideo and Cape Horn, navigating the Pacific Ocean along the coast of Chile and Peru. From Acapulco, Mexico, the corvettes sailed directly to Yakutat Bay, Alaska, in search of the famed North-West Passage, as ordered by Charles IV of Spain. While sailing along the north-west coast of North America, a

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.