Beschreibung:

VIANA, Francisco Javier de. Diario del viage explorador de las Corbetas Españolas "Descubierta" y "Atrevida" en los años de 1789 á 1794 . Cerrito de la Victoria [Montevideo]: Ejército, 1849.
VIANA, Francisco Javier de. Diario del viage explorador de las Corbetas Españolas "Descubierta" y "Atrevida" en los años de 1789 á 1794 . Cerrito de la Victoria [Montevideo]: Ejército, 1849. 8 o (218 x 142 mm). Contemporary half morocco, marbled boards (some light rubbing). Provenance : Vicente M. Corvalan (discreet blindstamp on title; presentation inscription on title to); Col. Bartolomé F. Cordero (inscription, signature on title). FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE RAREST BOOKS RELATING TO AUSTRALIA, WITH FURTHER ACCOUNTS OF CALIFORNIA AND ALASKA. Alessandro Malaspina (1754-1810), of Italian birth sailing in the service of Spain, made a crucial 18th-century world voyage that included a visit to Port Jackson in 1793. Upon his return to Spain, court intrigue, which resulted in Malaspina's imprisonment, halted the publication of an official account. The results of his expedition, including sixty crates of specimens, were lost in the archives of the Madrid Museum. Malaspina's own journal was not studied until eighty years later when Pedro de Novo y Colson edited a version for publication in 1885. Francisco Javier de Viana was an ensign on the voyage who settled in Uruguay on its completion and his is the first report of the Malaspina voyage to be published. In the context of Australian exploration the work is of great importance, providing detailed information about Port Jackson just five years after the first settlement (the section occupies pp.258-266). Of perhaps equal importance was the voyage's exploration of the coast from California to Alaska. Lada-Mocarski notes that with the exception of José Espinosa y Tello's introduction to the Relacion del viage...por las goletas Sutil y Mexicana (Madrid, 1802, often attributed to Martin Fernandez de Navarette, see lot 189), there is "nothing as complete and detailed [about the Malaspina expedition] printed before 1868" (pp.334-337 contains the log of the voyage from Acapulco to Port Mulgrave to Nootka). Viana's sons prepared their father's account for the press. It was printed on the travelling press of the army besieging Montevideo during the war between Argentine and Uruguay, thus partially explaining its great scarcity. It was not republished until 1967 when the Australian Documentary Facsimile Society issued the section on Port Jackson with a preface and translation by A. Grove and Virginia M. Day in an edition of 275 copies. Ferguson's entries are somewhat problematic (it is recorded under two separate numbers), recording a copy at the National Library of Australia and one at the Mitchell Library. This latter copy in fact lacks the Port Jackson section (the library has since acquired a complete copy). The Grove/Day edition also locates copies in the Museo Naval in Madrid and in the Library of Congress, but notes that it is not in the British Library, nor in the Hill collection. According to American Book Prices Current , only two copies have sold in the last 30 years: Sotheby's London, 25 June 1992, lot 61 and Christie's London, 20 April 1983, lot 355. Ferguson 5228 and 5100; Howes V-85; Lada-Mocarski 134; Palau 36188; Wagner Northwest Coast I:225-29; Wickersham 6642. VERY RARE.