[COOK, CAPTAIN JAMES; RICKMAN, John, officer on board the Discovery; ELLIS, W. (William), -1785, attributed name]. Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean, on Discovery; performed in the years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779, and 1780. Illustrated with cuts and a chart, shewing the tracts of the ships employed in this expedition. A new edition, compared with, and corrected from, the voyage published by authority. London: Printed for E. Newbury, at the corner of St. Paul's Church-Yard, MDCCLXXV [1785].
Hardcover, second edition, leather-bound, octavo (220 x 140 mm), pp. [8], lvii, [1], 376p, plates & map, contemporary full calf, smooth spine with gilt bands, initial and terminal blanks plus half-title present, 1 folding engraved map, 10 engraved plates. Condition: collated complete, binding worn with hinges cracked and tender, rubbing and scuffing to covers, points and spine ends worn and rubbed, the contents are mildly toned and browned with some scribbling to front pastedown partially removed, one or two small holes affecting text, the plates are complete and in good order, however, the folding map has suffered significant loss (see image). Fair. Extremely scarce.
Note: Based on John Rickman's 'Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage' (1781), but edited and extensively revised by David Henry and intended to form the sixth volume of his 'An historical account of all the voyages round the world, performed by English navigators', 1773-75. Sometimes also attributed to John Ledyard or to William Ellis. Rickman, second lieutenant of the Resolution, but for the greater part of the voyage on the Discovery, was the first to publish an account of Cook's Third Voyage. The work was, however, wrongly attributed to Ledyard until 1930 when Judge Howay demonstrated that Ledyard had simply copied whole sections of Rickman's book. The publisher, Newbery, recognised the potential of Rickman's anonymous journal, correctly assuming that it would be as successful as Marra's account of the Second Voyage, which he had also published; in fact this is considered the best edition in which the 1781 text is entirely re-edited and expanded. The folding plate is of some importance being the first representation in print of Hawaii. The early folding map of the North West Continent of America is considerably altered to show many more details. There also five additional plates, which are copied from those in the official account of the third voyage. The plates, now totalling ten, include: A man and woman of Von Diemens; A man of Mangea and a woman of Eaoo; Omais public entry on his first landing at Otaheite; Representation of the Heiva at Otaheite; A man and woman of Sandwich Islands; A man of Sandwich Islands in a mask; A man and woman of Nootka Sound; A man and woman of Prince William's Sound; A man and woman of Onalashka; [folding] Representation of the murder of Capt Cooke at O-Why-ee. [BCJC 1615; English Short Title Catalogue (ESTC): T142050; Forbes 106; Holmes 53; Howes R276; cf. Hill (2004) 1453; Roscoe, A224; Streeter 3474].
