“ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND NEW ZEALAND”: 1798 FIRST EDITION OF VANCOUVER’S VOYAGE IN CONTEMPORARY CALF BOARDS, COMPLETE WITH LARGE FOLIO ATLAS VOLUME

VANCOUVER, George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World; in which the Coast of North-west America has been Carefully Examined and Accurately Surveyed… Performed in the Years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794, and 1795. London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, and J. Edwards, 1798. Three volumes, plus atlas. Four volumes in all. Quarto, contemporary full brown calf rebacked, raise bands, red and blue morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers. Atlas: large folio, modern three-quarter speckled brown morocco over earlier paper boards. $55,000.

First edition of this comprehensive survey of the North Pacific, illustrated with 17 plates and a chart. Complete with large folio atlas volume, with an additional ten large folding engraved charts (eight of the coast of Northwest America) and six engraved views, offering what are probably the first published views of California. “This work ranks with the voyages of Cook and La Pérouse among the most important of the 18th and 19th centuries” (Cox II, 30-31).

"Vancouver, who had served on Captain Cook's second and third voyages, was made commander of a grand-scale expedition to reclaim Britain's rights, resulting from the Nootka Convention, at Nootka Sound, to examine thoroughly the coast south of 60º in order to find a possible passage to the Atlantic, and to learn what establishments had been founded by other powers. This voyage became one of the most important ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge. Vancouver sailed by way of the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, where he discovered King George's Sound and Cape Hood, then to New Zealand, Hawaii, and the northwest coast of America. In three seasons' work Vancouver surveyed the coast of California, visited San Francisco and San Diego and other Spanish settlements in Alta California, settled the necessary formalities with the Spanish at Nootka, investigated the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovered the Strait of Georgia, circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and disproved the existence of any passage between the Pacific and Hudson Bay. Before the narrative was finished, Vancouver died; his brother John, assisted by Captain Peter Puget, published the complete record" (Hill, 303-04).

"This narrative is one of the most important accounts of the exploration of the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand… Cowan considered the account to be superior to any of its kind and the chief authority on the areas explored during this period… Among the important features of the narrative are the engraved views in Vol. II of the Mission of San Carlos and the Presidio of Monteray, probably the first published views of California" (Streeter). The engraved views were drawn by William Alexander from sketches made on the spot by an expedition member. "Vancouver, like Cook before him, initially missed the Columbia River on his voyages along the coast [and] refused to believe an American sea captain in the vicinity who told Vancouver that he had tried to enter the mouth of a great river. A few weeks after this meeting, the American captain, Robert Gray, returned to the scene of his previous efforts and on May 12, 1792, became the first explorer to enter the Columbia River by crossing over the sandbar that blocked its mouth… Vancouver obtained a copy of Gray's chart from the Spanish governor at Nootka Sound and sailed to the mouth of the Columbia River in October 1792. He was unable to get his flagship over the sandbar but Lt. Robert Broughton succeeded with the smaller ship, the Chatham… The reports of Vancouver and Broughton of a navigable Columbia River and a continental divide encouraged Thomas Jefferson and others who planned Lewis and Clark's westward crossing of the continent. Since Vancouver's publication was both too expensive and too bulky to carry on the expedition, Meriwether Lewis traced Vancouver's charts so he could have them on the voyage" (University of Virginia). With errata and all half titles.

Text with marginal wormholing in Volume I, occasional light dampstaining in Volume II, mostly marginal, plates embrowned at edges; altas volume with maps and views in unusually nice condition, occasional expert restoration to margins, a few closed tears at folds. Rare and important.