Dessins

1799 · B5768 — T. Chapman publisher; T. Gillet printer Salisbury-Square c. 1799. A fine and handsome example with plates and text clean and crisp. . Edition: Second Edition. Binding: Expertly rebacked contemporary full calf preserving mottled calf boards gilt dentelled borders flanked by single and double filleted ruling; spine with five raised bands compartments with central gilt marine motifs and gilt lettered title on red morocco label on two; all edges uncut. Notes: Captain James Wilson 1760–1814 commanded the British ship Duff which the London Missionary Society contracted in 1797 to convey a team of missionariesto their posts in Tahiti Tonga and the Marquesas Islands. Wilson surveyed locations of numerous islands in the Pacific including Vanua Balavu Fulaga and Ogea Levu in Fiji Mangareva in the Gambier Islands Pukarua in the Tuamotus and Satawal Elato and Lamotrek in the Caroline Islands. Three years after the establishment of the British mission in Tahiti the directors of the Society appointed a committee to consider a suitable memorial for presentation to Wilson for his services in helping to establish the first mission in the South Seas. He published an account of his voyage: A Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean in 1799.<br>“This voyage was undertaken by the London Missionary Society for the purpose of establishing a mission in Tahiti. A settlement of twenty-five persons was formed. The king of the Islands befriended them but they met with continual difficulties from the civil wars and finally had to flee to Australia returning however in 1815 to Tahiti…. Includes many valuable details regarding Tahiti the Fiji Islands the Marquesas etc. A new group of islands was found among the Santa Cruslands and named the Duff Group…. The account is of extraordinary interest for its fresh and sometimes naïve viewpoint and for its descriptions of customs passed over by the nautical and geographical explorer.†Cox II:307. “Almost certainly two printers were employed by Chapman in order to speed up the job of publishing this quarto. This edition printed by Gillet is sometimes called the second edition; however the terms ‘coarse-paper’ ‘small-paper’ or ‘laid paper edition’ would be more correct. One may refer to them as the Gosnell edition and the Gillet edition. The text in both printings is the same but the list of subscribers in each is completely different the Gosnell edition having twelve pages and the Gillet edition having only seven which are not alphabetized. A careful study of these lists gives the distinct impression that the Gosnell edition is the earlier and the more expensive volume. As in the Gosnell edition the Advertisement to this edition also states: ‘The body of the journal is the composition of Mr. William Wilson from the captain’s papers his own and the missionaries’ reports.’†Hill 1895 “The anonymous editor of this book was Dr. Thomas Haweis one of the founders of the London Missionary Society. The long “preliminary discourse†was anonymously written by Samuel Greatheed using the then-unpublished narrative of James Morrison one of the pardoned ‘Bounty’ mutineers. Morrison’s manuscript was also the source for the extensive appendix on Tahiti. Indeed William Wilson and James Morrison may be called co-authors of this book.†Hill 1894 Size: Large quarto 285x220. Illustration: Complete with 13 plates maps and chart all detailing the geography and scenery of South Pacific islands. All plates and maps are present but in an order differing from the book’s table of plates. References: National Maritime Museum I:632; Hill 1894-95; Cox II:307. Pages: P: title bl. dedication 2 Advert. bl. list of prints bl. contents 4 1-312 Append. 313-395 bl. subscribers’ names 7 bl. preliminary discourse i-lxxxvii bl. letter of instructions lxxxix-c. Category: Book Voyages General; Book Asia South East T. Chapman, publisher; T. Gillet, printer, Salisbury-Square, hardcover