Beschreibung:

RICKMAN, John (fl. 1776)]. Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery; performed in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779... Faithfully Narrated from the original MS. London: E. Newbery, 1781.
RICKMAN, John (fl. 1776)]. Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery; performed in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779... Faithfully Narrated from the original MS. London: E. Newbery, 1781. 8 o (208 x 131 mm). Folding engraved frontispiece of the death of Cook, folding map (laid down, with very minor loss to folds and edges), 4 plates (one folding, three of the plates by Royce, two of these after Dodd). (Lower right corner of Q3 torn away with loss to last line of text.) Late 19th-century half calf, marbled boards (fading to spine, some light rubbing to edges). FIRST EDITION OF THIS FIRST FULL ACCOUNT IN ENGLISH OF COOK'S THIRD VOYAGE, published anonymously two years before the appearance of the authorized version. The account is based on the illicit copy of Rickman's journal (Second Lieutenant on the Discovery ) that he managed to retain, despite the Admiralty's orders that all logs, journals, maps and illustrations should be handed over to Captain King and sealed. Due to this injunction, the work was published anonymously (leading to various attributions of the text to both John Ledyard and William Ellis , thus predating the official account by more than two years. "The text, especially as regards details of Cook's death, differs considerably from other accounts" (Hill). "The several states of the first edition of this account are indicative of the haste in which the manuscript was rushed into print" (Forbes). This is Forbes state "A," no priority has been established. Beddie 1607; Forbes 33; Hill 1453; Kroepelien 1076; Lada-Mocarski 32; Mitchell Library Cook 1607; Sabin 36707.