Description: An historical collection was intended to stir up enthusiasm for the project of discovering and exploring the great southern continent (Terra Australis Incognita)... Although most of the first volume is composed of narratives of Spanish explorers of the South Pacific, Dalrymple also included navigational information on the South Seas and the Solomon Islands, and some of his own observations of the natural curiosities of Sulu... The narrative included, among others, the voyages of Magellan, Ferdinand Grijalva, Juan Fernandes (whom Dalrymple identified as the discoverer of the great southern continent), Adelanto Alvarado Mendana de Neyras, and Pedro Fernandez de Quiroz. Dalrymple did not wish for or anticipate a British conquest of the new continent. His vision of British oceanic expansion was based on trade rather than conquest and colonization... The second volume was devoted to Dutch voyagers [and] includes accounts of the voyages of Le Mair and Schouten in 1616, Abel Janszoon Tasman in 1642, and Jacob Roggewein in 1722.' (Speake, Literature of Travel and Exploration, page 306)

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: An historical collection was intended to stir up enthusiasm for the project of discovering and exploring the great southern continent (Terra Australis Incognita)... Although…

Description: "It was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularised the placement of professional artists on British ships of exploration. For over 50 years between the 1760s and the early 19th century, the voyagers who sailed from Europe to explore the Pacific brought back glimpses of this new world - a sensational view of part of the earth few would ever see ... Drawing on both private and public collections from around the world, this lavish book presents oil paintings, watercolours, drawings, prints and other documents from those voyages, providing a unique glimpse into an age when art, politics and science became entwined." - dust jacket

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "It was Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society, who popularised the placement of professional artists on British ships of exploration. For over 50 years between the…

Description: "Through the existence of this work, we are shown that James Cook did not 'happen' on the east coast of Australia. The Admiralty, with territorial expansion foremost on its mind and Dalrymple's book in its hands, virtually directed him to its discovery. The voyage of Endeavour changed forever the concept of exploration from historical analysis to scientific investigation.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "Through the existence of this work, we are shown that James Cook did not 'happen' on the east coast of Australia. The Admiralty, with territorial expansion foremost on its…

Description: "Some of the forty-one narratives appear for the first time in English. Callander ... prefaces each article with a short introduction ... important journals, such as Magellan's, Drake's, Tasman's and some others, he gives entirely ... The first section treats of geography, natural history, and commerce. The following sections treat the history of the Antarctic world, down to the middle of the eighteenth century with an account ... of the advances made in the discoveries by each successive navigator"--Hill.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "Some of the forty-one narratives appear for the first time in English. Callander ... prefaces each article with a short introduction ... important journals, such as…

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Description: "Publications of voyages are now so frequent and numerous, that any addition to them appears intrusive, and might almost be considered as unnecessary: but as the following Voyage was made through a track many degrees more to the eastward than was pursued by any of the circumnavigators, on their return to Europe, by way of the Indian seas; as, during it, several islands, hitherto unknown, were fallen in with, and as it may become, in time, an established passage between our new settlements in that part of the world, and the eastern coast of Asia, I trust I shall stand excused of thus laying out the particulars of it before the public."--Introduction.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "Publications of voyages are now so frequent and numerous, that any addition to them appears intrusive, and might almost be considered as unnecessary: but as the following…

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE

Description: This is the official report on the British Macartney Embassy to China that took place between 1792-1794. It was written down after the return to England by the Secretary to the mission Sir George Leonard Staunton, 1st Baronet (1737-1801), based on his own observations and notes from other crewmembers, including his twelve-year-old son Sir George Thomas Staunton, 2nd Baronet. The official publisher to King George III, W.Bulmer & CO for George Nicol published the account in 1797.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: This is the official report on the British Macartney Embassy to China that took place between 1792-1794. It was written down after the return to England by the Secretary to…

Description: Part I describes Dampier's visit to the East Indies and Indochina (1688-90); it is accompanied by a folding map of the Strait of Malacca. Included are descriptions of Aceh (northern Sumatra), Tonkin and Cochinchina (Vietnam), elephants, Pearl Islands, Dutch colonies, native customs, leprous beggars, lychees (and much other food), mulberry trees, typhoons, funeral rites, blacking of teeth, military and naval power, pirates, Macao, Malaysia, English and Dutch factories, and the rise and fall of Portuguese in India.Part II describes Dampier's voyage as a young sailor to the Bay of Campeche on the east coast of Mexico, in 1673-1676. He provides details about the Caribe Indians, Jamaica, the Yucatan, logwood cutters (i.e., buccaneers), saltpeter, boobies, Grand Cayman, alligators and crocodiles, raccoons, monkeys, sloths, armadillos, hummingbirds, "a great many poisonous Creatures" (snakes, spiders, legworms, etc.), manatees, and battles between the English and Spaniards. The folding map shows the area around the Bay of Campeche.Part III is Dampier's "Discourse of the Trade-Winds, Breezes, Storms, Seasons of the Year, Tides and Currents of the Torrid Zone throughout the World." Two folding maps illustrate the trade winds in the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian Oceans. It ends with an account received from Dampier's friend Capt. Rogers of Natal, in South Africa (pp. 108-112), giving details of geography and the inhabitants.The Hill Collection notes, "Dampier [1651-1715] was the best known, and probably the most intelligent, of the famous group of buccaneers that tormented the Spaniards in the South Seas from 1680 to 1720. His industry in taking notes of all he saw was equaled by his pains in preserving them from destruction. His first voyage, under Captain Swan in the Cygnet, took him from Virginia to Spanish America and across the Pacific to the East Indies. He traveled extensively in the Orient on several voyages which lasted from 1683 to 1691. It was on one of these trips that the first landing was made by the English on Australian shores, at the entrance of King Sound on the northwest coast, in 1688." Dampier circumnavigated the globe three times, was court-martialed for cruelty, and produced the first detailed record of Australian flora and fauna. He published his experiences in separately issued, independent volumes, the first in 1697, this (the second) in 1699, and a third in 1703; they include the first appearance in English of such words as "barbecue," "avocado," "chopsticks," and "sub-species."*** Howgego, Encyclopedia of Exploration to 1800, I, 295-6, D7.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: Part I describes Dampier's visit to the East Indies and Indochina (1688-90); it is accompanied by a folding map of the Strait of Malacca. Included are descriptions of Aceh…

Description: "The introduction to this volume states innocently that this voyage, commanded by Captain Cox, was undertaken 'from motives of curiosity' and that the North American fur trade was its 'ultimate object.' It is now known that the Mercury was transformed into the Gustave III once at sea, flying the Swedish flag and under orders from Sweden to attack Russian settlements on the Northwest coast of America as part of the war between Sweden and Russia in 1788-1790. Cox had received a commission in the Swedish navy in order to legitimate his enterprise, and the Swedish king was to receive ten percent of any profits garnered from the expedition. In spite of his assignment, however, when Cox came upon the few starving Russians he found in the region, he provided them with supplies rather than attacking them, and then left for Canton. The text contains references to Captain Bligh, who had left Tahiti on the Bounty about fifteen days before Mortimer's arrival there. The relation of the Russian establishment at Unalaska is most interesting, as is an account of the collecting of sealskins and oil on Amsterdam Island. The work appeared in both London and Dublin in 1791. Georg Forster's translation of Mortimer's account in Forster's collection of voyages to the Northwest coast (q.v.) published in Berlin, also in 1791." - [Hill, 1192]. Ferguson 111; Forbes 214; see Lada-Mocarski 48; Sabin 50985; Tourville 3203.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: "The introduction to this volume states innocently that this voyage, commanded by Captain Cox, was undertaken 'from motives of curiosity' and that the North American fur trade…

Description: From the title pages of the second edition: 'Compiled from the various accounts of that voyage hitherto published'.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: From the title pages of the second edition: 'Compiled from the various accounts of that voyage hitherto published'.

Description: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it affords a striking story of hardship, disaster, mutiny, and heroism. Only one of Anson's squadron, Centurion, returned to England with its mission accomplished.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it…

Description: This important work was compiled by Charles de Brosses, the noted historian and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie; John Callandar based much of his three-volume compendium of voyages in 1766 on de Brosses's summary of Pacific voyages to date. This thorough collection is one of the outstanding works on the early voyages of exploration to Australasia, 1502-1764, during which navigators touched on the supposed southern continent of Magellanica. In three parts (Magellanie, Australasie, and Polynesie), it covers the voyages of Vespucci, Magellan, Drake, Sarmiento, Hawkins, Quiros, Noort, Spilbergen, Nodal, Schouten, Dampier, Roggeveen, Anson and others. De Brosses's goal in publishing this history of voyages was to stimulate French discovery and colonization in the South Seas, and included the proposition that France should settle Australia as a penal colony.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: This important work was compiled by Charles de Brosses, the noted historian and contributor to Diderot's Encyclopedie; John Callandar based much of his three-volume compendium…

Description: White was chief surgeon of the First Fleet, and distinguished himself by overcoming serious medical problems in appalling conditions, both on the voyage out and when the settlement was founded. He was also a keen amateur naturalist and after arriving at Port Jackson found time to accompany Phillip on two journeys of exploration. Many important Australian animals are figured and described for the first time.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: White was chief surgeon of the First Fleet, and distinguished himself by overcoming serious medical problems in appalling conditions, both on the voyage out and when the…

Description: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it affords a striking story of hardship, disaster, mutiny, and heroism. Only one of Anson's squadron, Centurion, returned to England with its mission accomplished.

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGEDescription: In the annals of Britain's naval history Anson's voyage of 1740-4 holds a celebrated place. The first formal attempt by a naval expedition to circumnavigate the world, it…

Collection: DOCUMENTARY HERITAGE