Beschreibung:

Title: A Voyage Round the World; But More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788 in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and Dixon Author: Dixon, George Place London Publisher: Published by Geo. Goulding Date: 1789 Description: [iii]-xxix, [3], 360, 47, [1] pp. Illustrated with a large copper-engraved folding chart of the northwest coast of America as frontispiece & 21 other copper-engraved plates, charts & maps, seven of them folding. (4to) 28x22 cm (11x8½"), period polished calf re-backed with modern calf spine, gilt compartments and red and green morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers. First Edition. Important work on the Northwest coast of North America, comprising a series of 49 letters giving an account of an English expedition to establish fur trade in North America, with information on North American geography, ethnology, and natural history from Nootka Sound northward. Actually written by William Beresford and edited with appendices by George Dixon Streeter notes: "Portlock and Dixon, who had been with Captain Cook, made this expedition to the northwest coast of America to collect furs for a group of London merchants. Portlock, the Commander-in-Chief, was on the King George. The expedition left Gravesend August 29, 1785, and arrived at the Sandwich Islands via Cape Horn in May 1786. The mouth of Cook's River in Alaska was reached July 18 and the rest of the summer was spent in sailing down the Coast as far as Nootka Sound. The expedition wintered in the Sandwich Islands and in 1788 proceeded to Prince William Sound where they met Captain Meares. The vessels parted company in May, with Portlock exploring the Alaskan coast and Dixon sailing again for Nootka Sound, where he named `Dixon's Entrance' and the `Queen Charlotte Islands.' The furs were sold at Canton, China, and both ships, after a most successful voyage, arrived back in England by way of Cape Good Hope in the Summer of 1788." Forbes calls the work "an important supplement and companion to Nathaniel Portlock's narrative" of his trading expedition on the King George, and notes the significance of "its account of trading at Hawaii, Kauai, and Niihau, with considerable information on the chiefs and the political atmosphere of the period." Cowan (1914) p.70; Cox II, pp.27-28; Forbes 162; Hill 118; Howes D365; Lada Mocarski 43; Sabin 64390; Streeter Sale 3484; Wagner CNW 732-35; Wickersham 6574 Lot Amendments Condition: Wear and soiling to binding with some restoration work to leather; hinges reinforced with cloth tape, remnants of library bookplate on front pastedown, library stamp to half-title, title, and following page, scattered offsetting and foxing, occasional repair work to corners, maps with scattered foxing, some with minor repair work or reinforcement to folds, a solid copy; very good. Item number: 281045