Beschreibung:

Flinders, Matthew OBSERVATIONS ON THE COASTS OF VAN DIEMEN'S LAND, ON BASS'S STRAIT AND ITS ISLANDS, AND ON PART OF THE COASTS OF NEW SOUTH WALES; INTENDED TO ACCOMPANY THE CHARTS OF THE LATE DISCOVERIES. LONDON: PRINTED BY JOHN NICHOLS 1801 FIRST EDITION, ISSUE A (see footnote), 4to (292 x 225mm.), [iv], 36pp., on paper watermarked 1799; bound with: 3 large folding engraved charts by A. Arrowsmith after Flinders, each on paper watermarked 'J. Whatman 1794' (see footnote), together bound in a folio volume (450 x 338mm.), contemporary French green morocco-backed pink marbled boards One of the rarest Australian travel books and bound with the three charts, recording the latest discoveries by Flinders, George Bass and others, including the information that Van Diemen's Land was an island. Only one other copy is known with the charts bound-in: the Bass-Waterhouse copy (with variant title 'B'), sold at Christie's London in 1998 (8 April, Lot 130), and only 11 other copies of the text are known: 7 in Australian institutions (one of which is defective), 2 in Australian private collections, and 2 in the British Library. There are two variants of the title recorded by Wantrup, issue 'A' (as here), with Lieutenant misspelt 'Lieutenat' and the imprint 'Printed by J. Nichols; and issue 'B' with Lieutenant spelt correctly and with the imprint 'Printed for A. Arrowsmith .. By J. Nichols.' Issue 'A' is assumed to be the earlier issue, given the correct spelling of Lieutenant in variant 'B' and that the variant 'B' title-page of a copy sold at Christie's in 1998 was a cancel. The three large folding charts comprise: 1. Port Dalrymple, on the North Coast of Van Diemens Land as surveyed by the Norfolk sloop by M. Flinders ... Nov. and Dec. 1798. The Southernmost of Furneaux's Islands. Western Port on the S. Coast of N.S.W., examined by M. Flinders and Mr R. Simpson, October 1798; 4 charts on one sheet, (London: A. Arrowsmith, Feb. 20, 1801) 2. Chart of Part of the Coast of New South Wales, from Ram Head to Northumberland Isles, By M. Flinders, 2nd Lieut. of H.M.S. Reliance, 1800 (London: A. Arrowsmith, Feb. 20, 1801). 3. A Chart of Bass's Strait between New South Wales and Van-Diemen's Land; Explored by Mattw. Flinders 2nd Lieut. of his Majesty's Ship Reliance, by order of His Excellency Governor Hunter. 1798-9 (London: A. Arrowsmith, June 16th, 1800).