Lot 31
  • 31

Anson, George--Bulkeley, John, and John Cummins.

Estimate
1,500 - 2,000 GBP
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • A Voyage to the South-Seas, in the Years 1740-1. Containing, a faithful Narrative of the Loss of... the Wager on a desolate Island. London: Jacob Robinson, 1743
  • paper
FIRST EDITION, 8vo (192 x 118mm.), xx, 220pp., contemporary sheep, dark red leather label, upper joint cracking

Provenance

Thomas Percival, bookplate 

Literature

Borba de Moraes p.133; Hill (2004) 210; Sabin 9108

Catalogue Note

"This book is one of the principal accounts of the Wager, which was wrecked off the southern coast of Chile after rounding Cape Horn. Under the command of Captain Cheap, the Wager was one of Anson's fleet, which was on its way to harass the Spanish. After the wreck, gunner John Bulkeley and carpenter John Cummins conducted the mutinous part of the crew until they arrived safely in Rio de Janeiro. Much of the adventure and interest of the account is in the description of their travails passing through the Strait of Magellan in a longboat” (Hill).

A later edition of 1743 was published by J. Twig, and omits the authors' names.