Dixon, George

A Voyage Round the World; but More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America: Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. London: George Goulding, 1789



4to (11 1/2 x 9 in.; 292 x 229 mm). 6 engraved folding charts, 15 engraved plates (one folding) and one plate of engraved music; lacking second appendix, strong offetting of plates to adjacent text, light scattered foxing on 3 folding charts, neat repair to marginal tear to folding plate opposite p. 214. Half calf over marbled boards; rebacked.

Thomas Alcock (engraved armorial bookplate)

Hill (2004) 117; Howes D365; Lada-Mocarski 43; Sabin 20364; Streeter 6:3484; Wagner Cartography 1:207; Wagner Northwest Coast 238–243

First edition, large paper copy, "an excellent authority for the early days of fur trading on the Northwest Coast," (Streeter).  Dixon, in tandem with Captain Nathaniel Portlock, who commanded the King George (who published a similar account, see following lot),  made many significant discoveries while mapping the northwest coast of America which included Queen Charlotte Island, Port Mulgrave, Norfolk Bay and Dixon's Straits.

The work is primarily an epistolary narrative, being a series of forty-nine letters signed "W. B.," or William Beresford, a Quaker who accompanied the expedition to faciliate fur trading with the Indians. Dixon edited the letters and added an introduction and two  important appendices relating aspects of natural history and the ship's log (second appendix not present).