A Narrative Of Captain James Cook's Voyages Round The World; With An Account Of His Life During The Previous And Intervening Periods; Also An Appendix Detailing The Progress Of The Voyage After The Death Of Captain Cook.
Published by William Milner: Halifax 1837 1st Edition
Scarce 1837 1st Edition - Original Bindings - Lacking Several Pages
"Published by William Milner of Halifax in 1837, A Narrative of Captain James Cook's Voyages Round the World brings together the celebrated navigator's maritime expeditions with an account of his life during the years preceding and between his voyages. Combining biography, exploration and seafaring adventure, the work follows Cook's career through journeys that transformed European geographical knowledge of the Pacific. Its scope encompasses the practical challenges of navigation, encounters with unfamiliar lands and peoples, and the scientific ambitions that accompanied eighteenth-century exploration. This early nineteenth-century edition reflects the enduring fascination with Cook's achievements and the appetite for accounts of distant regions among readers in the decades following his death.
The narrative ranges across the great voyages associated with Cook's name, including his exploration of New Zealand and Australia's eastern coastline, his journeys through the Pacific islands, and his efforts to investigate the far southern and northern oceans. Alongside the progress of the expeditions are accounts of conditions aboard ship, natural history observations, and exchanges between the voyagers and Indigenous communities, expressed through the perspectives and language of the period. Figures such as Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander appear within the story of scientific enquiry that accompanied these hazardous undertakings. The work also recounts Cook's death in Hawaii, while an appendix extends the narrative to the subsequent progress of the expedition, giving the volume a broader scope than a straightforward biography.
Retaining its original brown textured cloth binding, with decorative gilt ornament and lettering to the spine, this example preserves the distinctive appearance of an early Victorian edition of Cook's voyages. The surviving binding shows substantial wear, including splitting and loss to the spine cloth, while the photographed pages display age toning, spotting and evidence of previous ownership. The volume is incomplete and lacks several pages, with the photographed sequence jumping from page 336 to page 355; it is therefore offered as an imperfect and incomplete historical copy. Despite these deficiencies, its dated Halifax title page, original binding and surviving narrative give it interest as a tangible example of nineteenth-century exploration publishing, particularly for collectors of Cook material, maritime history and early accounts relating to Australia and the Pacific."
Heavy wear to covers and spine as shown. Some staining present. Lacks several pages with book presenting as around 97% complete. A particularly scarce and original Captain Cook 1837 Milner publication, this copy is a true survivor. Please study photos to further understand condition.
