Anson, George

Estimate

800 - 1,200 GBP

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Description

ANSON, George
A Voyage Round the World in the years MDCCXL, I, II, III, IV... compiled... by Richard Walter. London: printed for the Author, 1748
paper

FIRST EDITION, 4to (255 x 202mm.), [34], 418, [2]pp., 42 folding engraved maps and plates, contemporary speckled calf, red morocco label

Provenance

John Monins, armorial bookplate

Literature

Borba de Moraes p.38; Hill (2004) 1817; Sabin 1626

Catalogue Note

THE OFFICIAL ACCOUNT OF ANSON'S VOYAGE. "This compilation has long occupied a distinguished position as a masterpiece of descriptive travel. Anson's voyage appears to have been the most popular book of maritime adventure of the eighteenth century" (Hill).

Anson was Commander in Chief of a mission to the South Seas, 1740-1744. Undertaken during the Anglo-Spanish war, the intention of the mission was to raid the coast of Pacific South America, to attack Panama and incite the native population to rebel against the Spanish. Bad weather, bad luck and scurvy depleted the squadron so that only one of the eight ships, the Centurion, remained. The capture of a Spanish ship laden with silver and gold was the one success of the mission.