Beschreibung:

Captain Bligh's account of the mutiny on the HMS Bounty London, 1792 BLIGH, William (1754-1817). A Voyage to the South Sea. London: George Nicol, 1792. First edition of one of the most remarkable incidents in maritime history, “an extremely important book” (Hill). Following a request by West Indian merchants to George III, Sir Joseph Banks recommended that the Admiralty fit out the Bounty for a voyage to collect bread-fruit trees from Tahiti for shipment to the West Indies. Banks also recommended Lieutenant Bligh as commander of the voyage on which Fletcher Christian sailed as Master's Mate. Reaching Cape Horn in 1787 and encountering fierce head winds, Bligh retreated across the South Atlantic to round the Cape of Good Hope and sail south to Australia and New Zealand to Tahiti. This is the first official account of the voyage and mutiny, edited from Bligh's journals by James Burney under the supervision of Sir Joseph Banks while Bligh was on his second bread-fruit voyage. The year of publication also marked the court-martial proceedings against fourteen returned mutineers, three of whom were hanged. Ferguson 125; Hill 135; Kroepelien 93; NMM 1:624; Sabin 5910. Quarto (294 x 226mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Bligh by J. Condé after J. Russell (spotted and toned); 7 engraved plates, maps and charts, of which 5 are folding (pp. 97-104, i.e. gathering O, misbound before pp. 89-96, i.e. gathering N). Early 19th century half-morocco over marbled boards (rebacked with new leather, corners renewed; a little rubbed, edges worn, endpapers browned). Provenance: two 19th century stamps on title page, erased and patched over with paper.