Association copy of Phillip Parker King — Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, performed between the years 1818 and 1822, London, John Murray, Albemarle Street, MDCCCXXVII [1827].
First edition. 2 vols., 8vo, Vol I pp. xl, 452; folding chart & 7 aquatint plates. Vol 2 pp. viii, 640, [2] (errata sheet to both volumes); 6 aquatint plates, 1 folding plate.
Both volumes bear identical ink presentation inscriptions to the front free endpaper: “John Lethbridge King / from his affect[ionate] father / Phillip Gidley King / 1892.” John Lethbridge King was the son of Philip Gidley King (1817–1904), grandson of Phillip Parker King (1791–1856), and great-grandson of Captain Philip Gidley King (1758–1808), third Governor of New South Wales.
The front free endpaper of Vol. I additionally carries an extensive pencil manuscript, most likely in the hand of John Lethbridge King, headed “Line of descent” and tracing three generations of the King family:
Line of descent
Lieut. Philip Gidley King came out in 1788 H.M. Sirius, under Captain Phillip, 1st Gov. of Australia, 1st Fleet — and succeeded Governor Hunter. — 1800 to 1806. His son (The Author). Phillip Parker King Rear Admiral — born Norfolk Island. His eldest son Philip Gidley King. Midshipman [to] Lieut. R.N. H.M. Beagle & Adventure. Straits of Magellan under Capt. King & Fitzroy 1826 to 1836. his father. in company with Darwin 1833 to 1836, see Voyage of The Beagle. page 279. 1860 Note: He went to sea at 9 years of age in the Adventure with his father.
In 1826–30 Philip Gidley King (1817–1904) sailed with his father in the Adventure to survey the southern coast of South America. In December 1831, King left as a midshipman in HMS Beagle to continue the South American survey and became a lifelong friend of Charles Darwin (Australian Dictionary of Biography, vol. 5, 1974). Darwin himself records the arrival of Philip Gidley King in his Beagle Diary (entry for 1 November 1831, Devonport):
Captain King & his son arrived in the evening & dined with us. The latter is going out in the Beagle as Midshipman.
As noted by Simon Keynes in his introduction to Midshipman Forsyth’s Log from the voyage of HMS Beagle,
FitzRoy had lost the services of his official artist Conrad Martens and relied for coastal views and profiles on the services of Philip Gidley King. Midshipman King made several views and coastal profiles of islands in the Galápagos archipelago, including Chatham, Charles, Brattle, Albemarle, James, Wemers, Abingdon, and Culpepper, among them a fine view of the interior of Charles Island looking towards Round Hill (Cerro Pajas) — the same hill Darwin ascended and recorded in his diary on 26–27 September 1835.
PROVENANCE:
The title page verso of both volumes bears the signature “J. Hay.” Vol. I carries a pencil annotation in an unidentified hand recording that the book “originally belonged to” Sir John Hay, described as “Ex Speaker [Legislative Assembly] + President [of the Legislative] Council.” Sir John Hay KCMG (1816–1892) was one of the most prominent figures in nineteenth-century New South Wales public life: elected Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly in 1862, he was appointed President of the NSW Legislative Council in 1873 and held that position until his death on 20 January 1892. Hay and Philip Gidley King M.L.C. were colleagues in the Legislative Council from 1880 onwards.
Aged 74 in 1892 — the year of Sir John Hay’s death — Philip Gidley King presented his father’s book to his own son John Lethbridge King, inscribing both volumes. The presentation inscriptions on both volumes are identified as Philip Gidley King (1817–1904), son of the author, who served as midshipman aboard HMS Adventure under his father and HMS Beagle under FitzRoy, sailing in company with Charles Darwin during the second Beagle voyage 1833–1836. Aged 74 in 1892 — the year of Sir John Hay’s death — he presented his father’s book to his own son John Lethbridge King. The pencil annotations are most likely by John Lethbridge King, detailing a record of four generations of one of Australia’s most distinguished maritime and political families.
