[Callander, John]

first edition, 3 volumes, 8vo (200 x 126mm.), probably the first issue of volume I with dedication to Charles Townshend, dedication to Sir Laurence Dundas bound in volume III, 3 folding engraved maps, advertisement leaf preceding the Preface in volume I, contemporary polished calf, spines in compartments with raised bands gilt, morocco lettering pieces, first map with short tears along folds, joints and spine ends rubbed, end of some joints starting to split

Hill p.367; Sabin 10053; JCB 1494; Crittenden 268

a fine copy. Callander's proposal for the settlement of Australia was derived from de Brosse's Histoire des navigations aux Terres Australes but is very critical of French intentions in the southern hemisphere. It contains accounts of forty-one voyages, including those made by Magellan, Drake, Quiros, Tasman and Dampier. As Quiros had advocated a Spanish settlement in his time, Callander now stressed the importance of British settlement to pre-empt the French.

Variant issues of this edition contain dedications to Charles Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer and cousin of the Lord of the Admiralty who appointed Cook in 1768, or Sir Laurence Dundas, who was elected M.P. for Edinburgh in 1768. Some copies, including this one, contain both dedications. Charles Townshend died in 1767, before the publication of volumes II and III, and it therefore seems probable that those copies of volume I bearing the dedication to Townshend are the earlier issue. Volumes I and II of the copy in the National Maritime Museum bear a variant imprint of Hawes, Clark and Collins.