Cook Voyages, Beautiful Set

COOK, Captain James (1728-1779).
A set of the three voyages comprising...
London: 1773-1785.
ONE OF THE CORNERSTONE WORKS OF PACIFIC VOYAGES[FIRST VOYAGE]: HAWKESWORTH, John (1715-1773).
An Account of the Voyages undertaken by the Order of his Present majesty for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, And successively performed by Commodore Byron, Captain Wallis, Captain Carteret, And Captain Cook, in the Dolphin, the Swallow, and the Endeavour.
London: W. Strahan; and T. Cadell, 1773.
3 volumes, 4to (11 ¼ x 9 in.; 28.6 x 22.9 cm).

50 engraved maps, charts, and plates (most double or folding) including the large folding maps of "The Chart of Part of the South Seas" and "Chart of the Straights of Magellan" in vol. 1; some discoloration and offsetting of plates to text and text to plates, occasional spotting or foxing to both, small hole at fold of plate no. 11 in vol. 2 (after p. 80), quire 4H in vol. 3 browned. FIRST EDITION. REFERENCES: Beddie 648; cf. Hill (2004) 782; Holmes 5; Sabin 30934. PROVENANCE: John Scott (Nineteenth-century ownership inscription on the recto of each initial blank). [SECOND VOYAGE]: COOK, James. A Voyage towards the South Pole, and round the World. Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, in the years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. In which is included, Captain Furneaux's Narrative of his Proceedings in the Adventure during the Separation of Ships. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1784 2 volumes, 4to (11 ¼ x 9 in.; 28.6 x 22.9 cm). 64 engraved maps, charts, and plates (31 double or folding) including the frontispiece portrait of Cook by Basire after Hodges and the large folding chart of the Southern Hemisphere, plus one folding letterpress table at the end; imprint along bottom margin of portrait trimmed, approximately 21 of the maps, charts, and plates spotted or foxed, some toned or browned with offsetting to text, some text offsetting to plates, a few text leaves spotted. FOURTH EDITION. REFERENCES: Beddie 1229; cf. Hill (2004) 358; Printing and the Mind of Man 223. PROVENANCE: John Haskins (contemporary ownership inscription on recto of initial blank in vol. 2) [THIRD VOYAGE]: COOK, James and James KING (1750-1784). A Voyage to the Pacific Ocean. Undertaken, by the command of His Majesty, for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere. London: H. Hughes, 1785. 3 volumes, 4to (11 ¼ x 9 in.; 28.6 x 22.9 cm) and one folio atlas (21 ½ x 15 5/8 in.; 54.6 x 39.7 cm). [TEXT:] 24 charts and views (13 folding) plus one folding letterpress table at the end; vol. 1 title-page foxed, some offsetting of plates to text and vice-versa, occasional toning and spotting to both, head of table shaved. SECOND EDITION. [ATLAS]: 61 engraved plates after John Webber by F. Bartolozzi, W. Byrne, J. Caldwell, J. Hall, W. Sharp, J.K. Sherwin, and others, plus two engraved folding charts, additional engraved plate "The Death of Captain Cook" after John Webber by F. Bartolozzi. Good dark impressions of the plates printed on thick paper. Plates newly interleaved, some plates creased in margins (a few flattened out), several expert mends to margins and a few plate marks strengthened, neat repair to long tear at the top of plate no. 6 (Man of Van Diemen's Land) just extending into plate background. REFERENCES: Beddie 1552; Forbes 85; cf. Hill (2004) 361 (first edition). PROVENANCE: Charles Hodges (ownership inscription on the verso of each initial blank of text volumes dated 1898). BINDING/CONDITION: Text volumes uniformly bound in modern polished biscuit calf over marbled boards, spines in 6 compartments with raised bands, burgundy and black lettering and numbering pieces, atlas volume similarly bound; boards of text volumes slightly rubbed, [Third Voyage:] upper board of vol. 1 detached, short tear to head of spine of vol. 3, joints rubbed.ONE OF THE CORNERSTONE WORKS OF PACIFIC VOYAGES, the first voyage gives an account of English voyages of the 1760s in the first volume, including John Byron's voyage to the Tuamoto Islands and the Gilberts, as well as Captain Wallis's voyage of discovery to Tahiti and Moorea; Captain Carteret's discovery of Pitcairn Island is also recounted. The second and third volumes are devoted to Cook's first voyage. "The first voyage under Captain Cook's command on the Endeavour was primarily of a scientific nature. The expedition was to sail to Tahiti in order to observe the transit of Venus across the disk of the sun, to determine the earth's distance from the sun, and also to carry on the geographical discovery that John Byron had started. Entering the Pacific around Cape Horn, Cook reached Tahiti in 1769 and carried out the necessary astronomical observations. Leaving Tahiti in July, Cook discovered, named, and charted the Society Islands, and then, heading southwest, explored New Zealand then headed towards Australia and discovered and charted the eastern coast for 2,000 miles, naming the area New South Wales. Both Australia and New Zealand were annexed by Britain as a result of this voyage which began in 1768 and ended in 1771" (Hill). THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE SECOND VOYAGE, WRITTEN BY COOK HIMSELF. Cook was directed on his second voyage to circumnavigate the globe as far south as possible to search for any southern continent. This expedition was the first to cross the Antarctic Circle. "Further visits were made to New Zealand, and on two great sweeps Cook made an astonishing series of discoveries and rediscoveries including Easter Island, the Marquesas, Tahiti, and the Society Islands, Niue, the Tonga Islands, the New Hebrides, New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, and a number of smaller islands. Rounding Cape Horn, on the last part of the voyage, Cook discovered and charted South Georgia, after which he called at Cape Town, St. Helena and Ascension, and the Azores. This voyage produced a vast amount of information concerning the Pacific peoples and islands, proved the value of the chronometer as an aid to finding longitude, and improved techniques for preventing scurvy" (Hill, p. 123).