Arthur Phillip | The Voyage... to Botany Bay, 1789, first edition

Arthur Phillip

The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay; with an account of the establishment of the colonies of Port Jackson & Norfolk Island. London: John Stockdale, 1789

FIRST EDITION, 4to (284 x 218 mm.), engraved portrait frontispiece and title, dedication leaf, errata leaf, list of subscribers, 53 (only, of 54) further engraved plates and maps, some folding or double-page, including 31 hand-coloured plates of natural history subjects on laid paper, advertisement leaf at end, contemporary diced calf gilt, yellow edges, marbled endpapers, lacking chart of Norfolk Island called for in index of plates, spotting and browning, some offsetting, half inch paper flaw to pp. 285-286 (with slight loss of text), joints starting

A RARE HAND-COLOURED COPY OF THE FIRST OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST SETTLEMENT IN AUSTRALIA. Compiled from the official reports of Governor Phillip this work was the first authentic and official account of the expedition to New South Wales and of the foundation of the colony. The work includes detailed descriptions of the birds and animals and of tentative explorations, as well as the earliest engraved view of the colony.

PROVENANCE:

"Matthew Lewis, Esq.r", father of Matthew Gregory (a.k.a. "Monk") Lewis, armorial bookplate; Panshanger, Hertfordshire, seat of Earls Cowper, armorial bookplate, with manuscript shelfmark "D.R._G.2 D.2"

LITERATURE:

Ferguson 47; Hill (2004) 1347; Wantrup 5