Bligh, William | Bligh and breadfruit

Bligh, William

A Voyage to the South Sea Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies in His Majesty's Ship the Bounty … including an Account of the Mutiny on Board the Said Ship. London: Printed for George Nicol, 1792

4to (295 x 235 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Bligh by J. Conde after J. Russell, one engraved plate of breadfruit, 6 engraved maps and plans of which 5 folding; frontispiece offset to title-page, offsetting from maps and plans, some scattered soiling and spotting. Near-contemporary marbled boards; spine perished and artlessly rebacked with linen tape, rather worn, front hinge broken, new endpapers. 

First edition of the first official account of the Bounty expedition, including a revised version of Bligh's Narrative of the Mutiny (1790). The account was based on Bligh's journals but was probably ghost-written by Captain James Burney (brother of the novelist Frances Burney) and seen through the press under the auspices of Sir Joseph Banks while Bligh was away on his second breadfruit voyage.

REFERENCE:

Ferguson 125; Sabin 5910; Wantrup pp 128-130

PROVENANCE:

Michael Lagewell (?; contemporary signature on title-page) — Sir Archibald Edmondstone (armorial bookplate)