The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay with an Account of the Establishment of the Colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island...
London: John Stockdale, 1790. Second edition. A good copy of the best edition of this work, the reorganized and revised second edition of the classic account of the first western settlement in Australia. This copy is unusual - it conforms to Ferguson 90 to a point, contains the earlier edition of the "Kangooroo" plate, but lacks the enlargement of the Appendix, the list of subscribers and "The History of New Holland, and Discourse on Banishment."
The foundation of Australia as a European colony is described in this official account of the First Fleet. "Phillip was given the task of founding a convict settlement in Australia, and became the first governor of New South Wales. Reaching Botany Bay in 1788, Via Tenerife, Rio de Janiero and the Cape of Good Hope, Phillip decided that the site was unsatisfactory and sailed to Port Jackson, where he founded the city named Sydney, after Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, secretary of state ."(Hill)
4to, frontispiece portrait, (ii) (engraved title, verso blank), xxiv (last blank), [iv] (list of plates, last blank), 258pp, lxxiv, (Appendix including the List of Convicts). Complete with 6 folding engraved maps and [50] engraved plates.
The large folding map "Sketch of Sydney Cove, Port Jackson" has some minor foxing, a closed tear repaired (4") at the margin as is often the case. The upper right margin of the map has some loss in the title resulting in part of the "n" in Jackson lacking. The title page includes the words "Second Edition"; the Wedgewood Medallion includes just one name, as would be expected in a second edition. The "Kangooroo" plate has the earlier spelling, later changed to "Kanguroo." The Table of Contents ends with List of Convicts at page lv, ending at lxxiv.
Period full original diced calf boards with elaborate gilt stamping at the borders, later plain matching leather spine. Gilt inner dentelles. Rubbed at edges, corners rubbed through. Some light offsetting from the plates as is to be expected; some foxing mainly in margins of plates, wide margins and many of the original tissue guards.
An interesting copy with full margins. OCLC: 156550822 records 2 copies, at the Turnbull Library and University of Sheffield. A variant of Ferguson 90; Wantrup p. 61; not in Hill, Crittenden, Victor. A Bibliography of the First Fleet Canberra, p. 110, no. 181. Item #24476
Price: $3,250.00