COOK (James). Report of voyages undertaken... - Lot 95 - Hôtel des ventes d'Évreux

Lot 95
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COOK (James). Report of voyages undertaken... - Lot 95 - Hôtel des ventes d'Évreux
COOK (James). Report of voyages undertaken by order of His Britannic Majesty, now regnant; to make discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, and successively executed by Commodore Byron, Captain Carteret, Captain Wallis & Captain Cook, in the ships the Dauphin, the Swallow, & the Endeavour: written from the journals kept by the various commanders & the papers of M. Banks, by J. Hawkesworth, Doctor of Laws, and enriched with figures, & a large number of plans & maps relating to the newly discovered countries, which were only imperfectly known. Translated from the English. Paris, Saillant, Nyon & Panckouke, 1774. 4 vol. in-4, marbled calf, spine with ornate ribbing, triple gilt fillet framing the covers (contemporary binding). The illustration includes 45 (out of 52) off-text plates, some folded (maps, views etc.). Plates 3, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15 and 16 of volume II are missing. Original edition of the French translation of Cook's first voyage. The account was written by John Hawkesworth, based on notes by Byron, Carteret, Wallis and Captain Cook's diary. The book contains many observations on South America, including Byron's description of the Patagonian giants, and on the Pacific islands, especially Tahiti, discovered in 1767 by Wallis. Cook's account occupies a large part of the book. James Cook, charged with going to Tahiti to observe a very rare eclipse caused by the interposition of Venus between the Earth and the Sun, took a team of scientists consisting of astronomer Charles Green, botanists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander, and three artists, Sydney Parkinson, Alexander Buchan and Herman Spöring, to Endeavour. After rounding Cape Horn, he made his astronomical observation in June 1769, then sailed south to try to define the extent of the famous and legendary southern continent. In fact, this part of the voyage, from October 1769 to March 1770, led to the delimitation of the shores of New Zealand. He studied its inha
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