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First edition of John Hunter’s, An historical journal of the transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, with the discoveries which have been made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean, since the publication of Phillip’s Voyage, compiled … Read Full Description
$A 4,250
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Orders over A$300
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First edition of John Hunter’s, An historical journal of the transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island, with the discoveries which have been made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean, since the publication of Phillip’s Voyage, compiled from the official papers; Including the journals of Governors Phillip and King, and of Lieut. Ball; and the voyages From the first sailing of the Sirius in 1787, to the return of that Ship’s Company to England in 1792.
Important c.18th account of Sydney Cove and Norfolk Island based on the Journals of Governors Phillip and King, Lieutenant Ball and the Voyages from the first sailing of the Sirius in 1787, to the Return of that Ship’s Company to England in 1792, published January 1, 1793.
Quarto, portrait of Captain John Hunter and engraved vignette on title page, 5 pp. list of subscribers, 583pp, 17 pl. and maps. Quarto, modern quarter calf over marbled papered boards, spine in compartments with gilt ornament and contrasting leather title labels lettered in gilt. The seventeen engraved plates and maps, include, portraits, large folding maps; 1. Territory of New South Wales showing the extent of settlement 2. Chart of the coast between Botany Bay, Port Jackson, and Broken-Bay 3. Australia (upside down), Prints; View of the Settlement in 1788 (the first engraving of Sydney). Without the usual cropping of the first line of title the title and removal of the date on the title page.
The maps, charts, views and other embellishments, drawn on the spot by Captains Hunter,and Bradley, Lieutenant Dawes, and Governor King. London : John Stockdale, 1793. Engraved frontispiece, pp (ii) (engraved title page and blank verso), Admiralty Library Office stamp to title page, [vi] (list of subscribers); [ii] (list of plates and blank verso), [viii] contents; 583, with 5 maps and charts (2 large folding) and 10 engraved plates; frontispiece and title and both folding maps with scattered foxing, the remaining plates and pages with occasional light foxing, a good copy with wide margins.
Captain John Hunter (1737-1821) arrived in Port Jackson in 1788 as second-in-command of the First Fleet flagship HMS Sirius, and was later to serve as Governor of New South Wales from 1795 to 1800. Hunter was responsible for carrying out the first surveys of the Sydney region, and he visually documented the landscape and natural history of the new colony in numerous sketches, several of which included as engravings in this work. This quarto and an abridged octavo edition of An Historical Journal were published in 1793, the quarto editio is the more desirable of the two. The octavo edition only having one folding map and one folding plate.
” A valuable work on the early history of the English settlement in Australia ” (Hill).
References:
Crittenden, V. A Bibliography Of The First Fleet. ACT 1982 : 110
Ferguson, J. A. Bibliography of Australia Volumes 1-8, Canberra 1976 : 152
Hill, J. The Hill Collection of Pacific Voyages. San Diego 1974 : 857
Wantrup, J. Australian Rare Books. Sydney, 1987 : 13
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 2280153
National Maritime Museum Greenwich: Object IDPAD4659
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1142189
State Library New South Wales: DSM/Q991/H
State Library Victoria: RARELTF 994.02 H91H
John Hunter (1737 - 1821)
Hunter was an admiral and the second governor of New South Wales. In May 1754 he became captain's servant to Thomas Knackston in H.M.S. Grampus. In 1755 he was enrolled as an able seaman in the Centaur, after fifteen months became a midshipman, transferred to the Union and then to the Neptune, successive flagships of Vice-Admiral Charles Knowles, and in 1757 took part in the unsuccessful assault on Rochefort. In 1759, still in the Neptune, in which John Jervis, later Earl St Vincent, was serving as a lieutenant, he was present at the reduction of Quebec. In February 1760 Hunter passed examinations in navigation and astronomy and qualified for promotion as a lieutenant, but he remained without a commission until 1780. Hunter obtained his first commission in 1780 as lieutenant in the Berwick through Admiral Rodney. When the arrangements which resulted in the sending of the First Fleet to Australia were being made in 1786, H.M.S. Sirius was detailed to convoy it. Hunter was appointed second captain of the vessel under Governor Arthur Phillip with the naval rank of captain. He was also granted a dormant commission as successor to Phillip in the case of his death or absence. In Phillip's instructions, 25 April 1787, it was hoped that when the settlement was in order it might be possible to send the Sirius back to England under Hunter's command. On the outward journey, soon after leaving the Cape of Good Hope, Phillip transferred to the tender Supply, hoping to make an advance survey of their destination at Botany Bay; he placed Hunter in the Sirius in command of the main convoy, though in the result the entire fleet of eleven ships made Botany Bay within the three days 18 to 20 January 1788. When Phillip felt doubtful about Botany Bay as the site of the first settlement, he took Hunter with him on the survey which decided that the landing should be on the shores of Port Jackson. Hunter was chiefly employed on surveying and other seaman's business, as well as sitting both in the Court of Criminal Judicature, which met for the first time on 11 February, and as a justice of the peace, the oaths of which office he took on 12 February.
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