Bligh, Captain William

Bligh, Lieutenant William. A Narrative of the Mutiny, on Board His Majesty's Ship Bounty; and the Subsequent Voyage of Part of the Crew, in the Ship's Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. Printed for George Nicol, 1790, FIRST EDITION, 4 folding maps and plans, 2 folding [Hill (2004) 132; Ferguson 71; Parsons Collection 151; Sabin 5908a], one map repaired at margin with minor loss, M2 with short tear in gutter not affecting text

[Barney, Stephen, and Edward Christian]. Minutes of the Proceedings of the Court-Martial held at Portsmouth, August 12, 1792 on Ten Persons charged with Mutiny on Board His Majesty's Ship the Bounty. With an Appendix containing a full account of the real causes and circumstances of that unhappy transaction, the most material of which have hitherto been withheld from the Public. J. Deighton, 1794, FIRST EDITION, EXCEPTIONALLY RARE, ownership signature of Edward Cotton on advertisement leaf [Hill (2004) 1162; Ferguson 175; Parsons Collection 158]



Bligh, Captain William. An Answer to Certain Assertions contained in The Appendix to a Pamphlet, entitled Minutes of the Proceedings of the Court-Martial held at Portsmouth, August 12th, 1792, on Ten Persons charged with Mutiny on Board his Majesty's Ship the Bounty. Printed for G. Nicol, 1794, FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED BY BLIGH (From the author | Mr Cotton") [Ferguson 176; Parsons Collection 159; not in Hill]



Christian, Edward. A Short Reply to Capt. William Bligh's Answer. J. Deighton, 1795, FIRST EDITION, EXCEPTIONALLY RARE [Ferguson 218; not in Hill (but cf.143, modern reprint) or Parsons Collection], title slightly soiled, final leaf in facsimile



Portlock, Captain Nathaniel. [bound first] A Voyage Round the World but more particularly to the North-West Coast of America: performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and Dixon. Embellished with Twenty Copper-plates. Stockdale and Goulding, 1789, FIRST EDITION, 6 folding engraved maps and 7 engraved plates (only, of a total of 18) [Howes P-497; Sabin 64389], title and some other leaves repaired, lacking 5 plates and maps



together 5 volumes bound in one, 4to (295 x 230mm.), twentieth-century morocco gilt by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, covers panelled in gilt and blind, marbled endpapers, spine gilt, slipcase

Each work with manuscript note in ink on the title, dated 1803, stating that it was purchased at King's sale, with the other works, for 2/9

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate
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A SUBERB COLLECTION OF WORKS OF THE GREATEST RARITY, VIVIDLY DESCRIBING THE MOST NOTORIOUS EPISODE IN MARITIME HISTORY.

Bligh's Narrative (1790) is his own account of the famous mutiny on the Bounty, issued in haste, fully two years before his official account of the whole voyage, in an effort to preserve his reputation. Indeed, criticism of him was leavened by his astonishing account of his 3500 mile, two-month journey across the Pacific with his eighteen still-loyal crewmen in a twenty-three-foot open launch (only one life was lost).

The Minutes of... the Court-Martial (1794) is, according to Parsons, "a legendary pacific rarity". Hill notes that "only a few copies were printed for distribution among the interested parties and the ministers of state at that time". The work gives an account of the trial of the members of the Bounty crew who were captured and repatriated; the minutes were taken by Stephen Barney, who was representing William Musprat. The Appendix is by Edward Christian, and is a vindication of his brother Fletcher's conduct in the affair. He also gives an account of Bligh's supposed brutishness, noting that the crew declared that "Captain Bligh used to call his officers 'scoundrels, damned rascals, hounds, hell-hounds, beasts, and infamous wretches'... that he frequently threatened them, that when the ship arrived at Endeavour Straits 'he would kill one half of the people, make the officers jump overboard, and would make them eat grass like cows;' and that Christian, and Stewart, another midshipman, were as much afraid of the Endeavour Straits, as any child is of a rod" (p.63).

The Minutes immediately provoked a response from Bligh in the equally rare Answer to Certain Assertions (1794), here inscribed by Bligh, in which he portrays himself, with the help of the testimony of influential friends, as an affable and humane captain. He goes on to assert that Christian acted out of insanity. The year after, Edward Christian responded with A Short Reply to Capt. Bligh's Answer, probably the rarest of any of the three publications concerning the proceedings of the trial, in which he calls into question the testimonials of those who had supported Bligh in the previous publication.