Rare Book Monthly
Book Catalogue Reviews - September - 2007 Issue
Captain Cook and the Pacific from Hordern House
First American printed portrayal of Hawaii and death of Cook.
All of Cook's voyages suffered from having crewmen violate the rule of no publishing accounts before the official version. The first account of the second voyage, also published anonymously, but written by gunners' mate John Marra, was Journal of the Resolution's Voyage...by which the Non Existence of an Undiscovered Continent...is demonstrably proved. This book was the first printed first-hand account of penetrating the Antarctic circle, which Cook's expedition accomplished, showing that there was no massive southern continent, as many believed. Marra's book describes many events not included in the official account, including the dispute that kept Banks from participating in the second voyage. Item 11. AU $18,250 (US $15,501).
Item 21 is an extremely rare but important book, especially for Americana collectors - the 1781 New York edition of John Rickman's Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean... This is another one of the jump-the-gun accounts of a Cook voyage, this time his third. It was published anonymously, though the author has since been established to be Rickman, a lieutenant. It was originally published in London three years before the official account. Rickman's account, the first published in the English language of Cook's third voyage, differs from the official one in certain respects, particularly concerning the death of Cook. This edition is important because it is not only the first American book to describe the death of Cook, but the first American book to describe the Hawaiian Islands. The representation of the killing of Cook is the first depiction of Hawaii in a printed book. As to its rarity, this is the only known copy of an edition once thought to be lost. AU $112,500 (US $95,327).
Hordern House may be visited online at www.hordern.com, telephone (61-2) 9356 4411.
