cook first voyage magra james (2 Ergebnisse)

Octavo, blind-stamped ex-libris to half title; contemporary French marbled calf, flat spine gilt in compartments, red morocco label. A fine copy of the first French account of Cook's Endeavour voyage, and the first French book on the east coast of Australia. Fréville translates the text now considered to be by Magra, which - published in English in 1771 - was the unauthorised and earliest account of the progress of the Endeavour voyage. This is one of two probably simultaneous issues, this one having the "Supplément" title-page; in this form the publishers intended the book to complement the octavo edition of Bougainville's voyage. The work also includes some material that did not appear in the original London edition, including a 'Lettre de M. de Commerson', the famed naturalist from Bougainville's circumnavigation, who remained behind at Mauritius to continue his research. The second supplement is equally important: the 'Lettre de M. le B. de G.' is a learned treatise on the possibility of a northwest passage, written at Königsberg (modern Kaliningrad), and quoting from experts on the region such as Gmelin, Muller, and Engel. Although the identity of this scholar remains hazy, it is surprising that such an interesting - and relatively early - report on the northwest passage has been largely ignored. Continuing the parade of famous explorers included in this short work, the Commerson letter is said to have been conveyed to France by none other than Kerguelen, promoter of the "Terre Australe". Rolf du Rietz in the Kroepelien catalogue further notes that a letter from Sir Joseph Banks to the Académie des Sciences is also quoted in the introduction, said to have first been published in the Journal des Savans. Despite his best efforts to distance himself from Magra's work (including having the false dedication in the London edition removed), it appears that his unwilling association with the work continued on the continent. Indeed, one of the attractive aspects of this copy is not only the fine contemporary French binding, but the spine label which reads 'Voyage de Solander': it was not unusual for Banks to be given top-billing in the excitement of the return of the Endeavour, but there cannot be too many examples that plump for Solander. . Very slight rubbing to joints but a fine tall copy with good margin.

Zustand: A fine copy. Quarto; a fine copy in a Sangorski-style binding of half green morocco, spine panelled in gilt between raised bands. First edition of the earliest published account of Cook's first voyage to the Pacific: the rare first issue, with the leaf of dedication to 'The Right Honourable Lords of the Admiralty, and to Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander' inserted by the publishers to add authenticity. This was the first of a series of so-called "surreptitious accounts" of Cook's various voyages to appear in print: the Admiralty found it practically impossible to enforce their ruling that no unofficial publications should pre-empt the official and lengthier accounts of the voyages, naturally much slower in the press. In this case, however, legal action was taken against the publisher for using an unauthorised dedication, forcing removal of the leaf during publication. 'It is accordingly of the greatest rarity, and copies of the book containing the dedication are far more valuable than those without it.' (Davidson). In this large copy, the offending leaf has generous margins and retains its printed instruction to the binder "Place this next the title" (which also, interestingly, indicates that the leaf was printed quite separately from the rest of the work). The British public's eagerness for news of the voyage needed more than newspaper accounts, while the officially sanctioned narrative would be a long time coming. Published anonymously some two months after the return of the Endeavour and nearly two years before Hawkesworth's official account, the Cook scholar Beaglehole demonstrated that the sailor James Magra was the author. His illicit sale of his journal to the publishers might well have confirmed Cook's opinion of him: 'one of those gentlemen, frequently found on board Kings Ships, that can very well be spared, or to speake more planer good for nothing.'. He was a New Yorker and a loyalist. Whatever his skipper and the authorities may have thought of him, it was Magra who got the first description of the voyage into print -- the earliest printed account of the east coast of Australia, published even before acceptance of the name Botany Bay, here called Sting-ray Bay as Cook originally christened it. Magra later changed his name to Matra to claim a family inheritance. As Alan Frost has shown ("The Precarious Life of James Mario Matra: Voyager with Cook; American Loyalist; Servant of Empire", 1995) Matra used his experiences on the east coast of Australia to draft his 1783 proposal for a penal colony at Botany Bay. Never shy in self-promotion, he announced his hope of being made Governor. His plan, like Sir Joseph Banks's before and George Young's after him, had its effect on the planners of the First Fleet and he was called as an expert witness to the committee in charge of solving the question of transportation (see Frost, pp.113-122). His life has prompted a considerable literature, with multiple studies of his career and importance including those by G.B. Barton, George Anthony Wood, James Watson (who christened him the "Father of Australia", an accolade more often awarded to Joseph Banks), and more recently Antonio Giordano (who has him as "Australia's Spiritual Father") and Andrew Tink. .