81 91COOK, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and Round the World… London, 1777. Two volumes. Quarto, contemporary full tan calf gilt sympathetically rebacked. $15,000 “The Study Of Cook Is The Illumination Of All Discovery” First edition of Cook’s official report of his second voyage, superbly illustrated with 64 engraved charts, maps and plates, many double-page or folding. A handsome copy in nicely rebacked contemporary calf. Facing challenges surpassed only by modern space flight, Captain James Cook embodied the spirit of the great age of maritime discovery. The only 18th-century explorer to lead more than one Pacific voyage, he embarked on three circumnavigations between 1768 and 1776, essentially transforming into their modern form the dangerously unreliable maps of the Pacific’s expanse and the New World’s western coast. Official accounts of his three voyages, with their remarkable engravings and splendid atlas, found an eager public. In this second voyage (1772-1775), Cook crossed the Antarctic Circle for the first time in history and disproved the existence of the supposed “Great Southern Continent.” “The world was given for the first time an essentially complete knowledge of the Pacific Ocean and Australia, and Cook proved once and for all that there was no great southern continent, as had always been believed. He also suggested the existence of Antarctic land in the southern ice ring, a fact which was not proved until the explorations of the 19th century” (PMM 223). Beddie 1226. Folding “Chart of the Southern Hemisphere” with closed tear at stub. Plates and text generally clean and fine, expert restoration to corners. A handsome and desirable copy.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=