[COOK (Captain James)] - HAWKESWORTH (John). - Lot 34

[COOK (Captain James)] - HAWKESWORTH (John). Relation des voyages entrepris par ordre de sa majesté britannique, actuellement régnante ; Pour faire des Découvertes dans l'Hémisphère Méridional, Et successment exécutés par le Commodore Byron, le Capitaine Carteret, le Capitaine Wallis & le Capitaine Cook, dans les Vaisseaux le Dauphin, le Swallow & l'Endeavour : Rédigée d'après les Journaux tenus par les différens Commandans & les Papiers de M. Banks... Paris: Saillant et Nyon, Panckoucke, 1774. - Voyage dans l'hémisphère austral, et autour du monde, fait sur les vaisseaux de roi, l'Aventure, & la Résolution, en 1772, 1773, 1774 & 1775. Paris: Hôtel de Thou, 1778. - Cook's third voyage, or voyage to the Pacific Ocean, ordered by the King of England, To make Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere, to determine the position & extent of the West Coast of Septentrional America, its distance from Asia, & solve the question of the passage to the North. Executé sous la direction des Capitaines Cook, Clerke & Gore, sur les Vaisseaux la Résolution & la Découverte en 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 & 1780. Paris: Hôtel de Thou, 1785.-13 volumes in-4, 248 x 196: (2 ff.), iv, xvj pp, (1 f.), xxxij, 388 pp., 16 plates; (3 ff.), 26 pp., pp 31-536, 16 plates; (3 ff.), 394 pp..., (1 f.), 17 plates; viij pp., (1 f.), 367 pp., 3 plates (Relation); portrait, xij pp., pp. v-xliv, 460 pp., 17 plates; viij, 432 pp., 17 plates (of 20); viij, 374 pp., 21 plates; viij, 413 pp. (1 f.), 7 plates, 1 table; xij, 510 pp. (1 f.), 1 plate, 1 table (Voyage dans l'hémisphère austral); frontispiece, (4 ff.), cxxxij, 437 pp, (1 f.), 22 plates; (2 ff.), 422 pp. 14 plates; (2 ff.), 488 pp. (1 f.), 32 plates; (2 ff.), 552 pp. (1 f.), 19 plates, 1 table (Cook's third voyage). -Marbled calf, triple gilt fillet framing the boards, ornate ribbed spine, marbled edges (period binding). First French edition of Cook's three voyages. The first two were translated by Suard, the third by Demeunier. THE LAST VOYAGE OF DISCOVERY AND THE FIRST SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION. James Cook, the famous English navigator, made a major contribution to knowledge of the Pacific thanks to his numerous hydrographic surveys, revealing the existence of an oceanic hemisphere. During his first expedition, from 1768 to 1771, he discovered the archipelago of the Society Islands, New Zealand and the eastern coasts of Australia, which until then had been included in the hypothetical southern continent. In 1772, on his second voyage, he visited the Marquesas Islands, the New Hebrides and New Caledonia. The last expedition, from 1776 to 1779, was aimed at finding a passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans via the northern part of the American continent. He succeeded in reaching the Bering Strait, but on his return to the Sandwich Islands, previously discovered, he was killed by natives on February 14, 1779. He made the most accurate and comprehensive observations of the countries he visited. The first book contains the account of the first four British circumnavigations, by explorers John Byron (1723-1786), Samuel Wallis (1728-1795), Philip Carteret (1733-1796) and James Cook (1728-1779). It was compiled by English literary scholar John Hawkesworth (1715-1773), who had been commissioned to compile a synthesis of these relationships, following numerous illicit publications. The last volume of the second voyage contains an interesting "Vocabulary of the language of the isles of society", an extract from Wales and Bayly's Astronomical Observations and, finally, a discourse on the health of seafarers and the medicines employed during Cook's second voyage, by Pringle. REMARKABLE AND FAMEOUS ENGRAVED ILLUSTRATION ON COPPER COMPRISING A PORTRAIT AND 203 (out of 206) PLATES, many fold-outs: maps, fauna, flora, genre scenes, customs, antiquities, weapons, etc. Among these plates is the large General Map showing all of Captain Cook's discoveries, which is sometimes missing. There are also three fold-out tables. This famous iconography revealed certain exotic types to the Western world for the first time. Plates 19, 31 and 32 are missing from the second volume of the second voyage. Also missing are leaves D2 and D3 (pages 27 to 30) in volume 2 of the Relation des voyages. A good copy in contemporary bindings. The first 9 volumes, corresponding to the first two voyages, are uniformly bound. Worn and missing at several headpieces, despite restorations, splits and restorations at several hinges and some spotting. Several title-pieces or tomais.