Beschreibung:

DIXON, Captain George - [BERESFORD, William]. A Voyage Round the World; but more particularly to the North-West Coast of America: performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in the King George and Queen Charlotte. Captains Portlock and Dixon. London: Published by George Goulding, 1789. 4° (310 x 250mm). Large folding engraved chart, 6 further folding maps, charts and coastal profiles, and 15 engraved plates of which 1 is folding and 7 are hand-coloured, complete with half-title and errata leaf 9printed on thick paper). (Presentation bookplate on verso and title and early library stamp on title-page and plate versos). UNCUT AND UNTRIMMED IN ORIGINAL VELLUM-BACKED BLUE BOARDS, contemporary ms. title on spine, printed on thick paper. A REMARKABLE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION, totally unsophisticated, the 7 natural history plates with contemporary hand-colouring bright and fresh. Dixon in the 'Queen Charlotte' and Portlock in the 'King George' set out to establish a British fur trade between North America and China for the newly-formed King George's Sound Company, surveying and mapping northward of Nootka Sound. Both had sailed on Cook's third voyage to these waters. Dixon's new maps of the northwest coast surpassed those of Cook and he made a number of new discoveries including the Queen Charlotte Islands and Dixon Entrance. Although Dixon wrote the introduction and appendix and contributed the maps, the work is largely by Beresford, ship's officer, in the form of letters to a friend. Hill, p. 23. Sabin 64390.