Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2008 Issue
Books from the Past from Helen R. Kahn Rare Books
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The 1740 voyage of George Anson was one of the most disastrous of missions, though it made him a rich man. Anson set out for South America to harass the Spanish and conduct some privateering. Only one of his eight ships returned and most of his men died. However, on his return trip across the Pacific (Anson's was just the second English circumnavigation), Anson captured a Spanish vessel laden with coins and became a rich man. Among the ships of Anson lost while rounding the Horn was the Wager. It shipwrecked, and after various horrors, the survivors broke into two groups. One group took a longboat and eventually made it to Rio. Their tale is recounted in A Voyage to the South Seas...Containing a Faithful Narrative of the Loss of his Majesty's Ship the Wager... by John Bulkeley and John Cummins, published in 1743. Item 28. $2,100. The others' story is contained in The Narrative of John Byron containing an Account of the Great Distresses suffered by Himself and his Companions on the Coast of Patagonia, published in 1768. They ended up being taken prisoner by Indians and the Spanish before finally being freed. $1,800.
Helen R. Kahn Rare Books may be visited online at www.hrkahnbooks.com, or reached by telephone at 514-844-5344, email hrk@hrkahnbooks.com.
