Cook, James and James King:

$6,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

TROISIÈME VOYAGE DE COOK, OU VOYAGE A L'OCÉAN PACIFIQUE, ORDONNÉ PAR LE ROI D'ANGLETERRE.... The first French edition of Cook's third voyage, complete with all plates bound in at their appropriate places in the text, including the "Death of Cook" plate. Cook's monumental journey took him to Hawaii and the western coasts of America, Canada, and Alaska."Cook's third voyage was organized to seek the Northwest Passage and to return [the islander] Omai to Tahiti. Officers of the crew included William Bligh, James Burney, James Colnett, and George Vancouver. John Webber was appointed artist to the expedition. After calling at Kerguelen Island, Tasmania, New Zealand, and the Cook, Tonga, and Society Islands, the expedition sailed north and discovered Christmas Island and the Hawaiian Islands, which Cook named the Sandwich Islands. Cook charted the American west coast from Northern California through the Bering Strait as far north as latitude 70 degrees 44 minutes before he was stopped by pack ice. He returned to Hawaii for the winter and was killed in an unhappy skirmish with the natives. Charles Clarke took command and after he died six months later, the ships returned to England under John Gore. Despite hostilities with the United States and France, the scientific nature of this expedition caused the various governments to exempt these vessels from capture. The voyage resulted in what Cook judged his most valuable discovery - the Hawaiian Islands" - Hill.Some sets of this quarto e

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