A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEA

London: printed for George Nicol, 1792. 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, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an account of the mutiny on board the said ship, and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship's boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies. The whole illustrated with charts, &c. Published by permission of the Lords Commissioners of The Admiralty. Pp. [x]+264, engraved frontispiece portrait, plus 7 plates (mostly charts and plans, 5 folding); med 4to; later (not recent) half calf, the spine with gilt lettered maroon leather title label and raised bands decorated in gilt, marbled papered boards, slightly rubbed, spine slightly scuffed; later endpapers; some mainly light foxing, plates slightly offset, occasional faint soiling; printed for George Nicol, London, 1792. First edition. F.125; Wantrup 62a. *The official account of the famous voyage, edited by James Burney under the direction of Sir Joseph Banks. Contains Bligh's description of the notorious Bounty mutiny and his perilous journey in the ship's launch: 'Wednesday, May the 20th. Fresh breezes E N E with constant rain; at times a deluge. Always baling. At dawn of day, some of my people seemed half dead: our appearances were horrible; and I could look no way, but I caught the eye of someone in distress' [Wantrup, page 191].