Cook, Captain James--Marra, John

FIRST EDITION, 8vo (205 x 120mm.), xiv, 328pp., folding engraved map, 5 engraved plates, contemporary speckled calf, red label, D2 a cancel but apparently identical to uncancelled leaf, slight offsetting

BCJC 1270; Hill (2004) 1087; Holmes 16; Sabin 16247; Streeter IV 2408

A fine copy
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This account comprises the earliest published view of the Antarctic.

This is the first published account of Cook's second voyage and the first printed account of the first crossing of the Antarctic Circle, appearing anonymously and surreptitiously some eighteen months before the official account. Cook first accused the gunner Robert Anderson of the authorship, who persuaded Marra to confess. This account records many incidents omitted by Cook and gives the reasons which caused Sir Joseph Banks and his retinue to withdraw from the expedition at the last moment. Marra's account appears to have been ghost written as he “was incapable of writing a consecutive account of anything. His contribution was therefore limited to factual extracts from his journal, the great bulk of the work being supplied by an editor” (Holmes) in the pay of the publisher.