• 27 • 27VANCOUVER, George. A Voyage of Discovery to the North Pacific Ocean, and Round the World... London, 1798. Three volumes, plus atlas. Four volumes in all. Quarto, contemporary full brown calf rebacked. Atlas: large folio, modern three-quarter speckled brown morocco over earlier paper boards. $55,000 First edition of this comprehensive survey of the North Pacific, illustrated with 17 plates and a chart. Complete with large folio atlas volume, with an additional ten large folding engraved charts (eight of the coast of Northwest America) and six engraved views, offering what are probably the first published views of California. “This work ranks with the voyages of Cook and La Pérouse among the most important of the 18th and 19th centuries” (Cox II, 30-31). Vancouver “was made commander of a grand-scale expedition to reclaim Britain’s rights, resulting from the Nootka Convention, at Nootka Sound, to examine thoroughly the coast south of 60º in order to find a possible passage to the Atlantic, and to learn what establishments had been founded by other powers. This voyage became one of the most important ever made in the interests of geographical knowledge. Vancouver sailed by way of the Cape of Good Hope to Australia, where he discovered King George›s Sound and Cape Hood, then to New Zealand, Hawaii, and the northwest coast of America. In three seasons› work Vancouver surveyed the coast of California, visited San Francisco and San Diego and other Spanish settlements in Alta California, settled the necessary formalities with the Spanish at Nootka, investigated the Strait of Juan de Fuca, discovered the Strait of Georgia, circumnavigated Vancouver Island, and disproved the existence of any passage between the Pacific and Hudson Bay” (Hill, 303-04). “This narrative is one of the most important accounts of the exploration of the Pacific Northwest and New Zealand… Among the important features of the narrative are the engraved views in Vol. II of the Mission of San Carlos and the Presidio of Monteray, probably the first published views of California” (Streeter)… The reports of Vancouver and Broughton of a navigable Columbia River and a continental divide encouraged Thomas Jefferson and others who planned Lewis and Clark’s westward crossing of the continent. Text with marginal wormholing in Volume I, occasional light dampstaining in Volume II, mostly marginal, plates embrowned at edges; atlas volume with maps and views in unusually nice condition, occasional expert restoration to margins, a few closed tears at folds. Rare and important. “ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ACCOUNTS OF THE EXPLORATION OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST AND NEW ZEALAND”: 1798 FIRST EDITION OF VANCOUVER’S VOYAGE IN CONTEMPORARY CALF BOARDS, COMPLETE WITH LARGE FOLIO ATLAS VOLUME
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