"A BUCCANEERING CLASSIC": RARE 1712 FIRST EDITION OF ROGERS' CRUISING VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, WITH FIVE FOLDING MAPS

ROGERS, Woodes. A Cruising Voyage Round the World: First to the South-Sea, thence to the East Indies, and Homewards by the Cape of Good Hope, 1708-11, Containing… an Account of Alexander Selkirk living alone four years and four months in an Island. London: Printed for A. Bell… and B. Lintot, 1712. Octavo, 19th-century full paneled calf sympathetically rebacked in calf-gilt, red morocco spine label, raised bands. $8500.

First edition of Rogers' privateer voyage on the "Duke" and "Duchess," including an account of the rescue of Alexander Selkirk, the inspiration for Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, with five folding maps. "Extremely rare" (Cox).

"Rogers' account is considered as a buccaneering classic. With William Dampier as pilot, Captain Woodes Rogers' privateering expedition set sail from Bristol. After sailing down the coast of Brazil and rounding Cape Horn, he made for the deserted island of Juan Fernandez to seek shelter from a severe storm. There Rogers rescued the celebrated Alexander Selkirk, a Scot who had been marooned several years before by Captain Stradling during Dampier's earlier voyage, and who has been immortalized as the prototype for Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. An account of Selkirk's true adventures is given. The expedition then cruised the coast of Peru, taking various prizes, reached California, and crossed the Pacific to Asia. The high point of this circumnavigation was the capture of the Manila galleon, in 1709, at Puerto Seguro. A bit of Rogers' Spanish plunder is offered in the Appendix" (Hill). "It is a work of great interest and possesses a quaint humor that renders it delightful reading. In many respects the voyage was a notable one, but in none more than this, that with a mongrel crew, and with officers often mutinous, good order and discipline were maintained throughout. The original edition is extremely rare" (Cox). Along with Shelvocke and Dampier, Rogers' voyage was one of the few English expeditions to reach the South Seas in the early part of the 18th century. Scarcely found complete. Hill 1479. Cox I, 46. Bookplates, including that of Lord W. Kerr; owner ink signature.

Text clean, maps trimmed a little close at times, expert repair to world map along fold, generally in excellent condition. Expert restoration to contemporary paneled calf boards. A beautiful copy of this scarce and early buccaneering classic.