Exploration & Discovery 1576-1939: The Library of Franklin Brooke-Hitching Part 2, D-J

FIRST EDITION, small 4to (170 x 135mm.), [vi], 120, [xxii] pp., folding engraved map, dark red morocco by Elizabeth Greenhill, without blanks A1 and Q4, title shaved at head just touching first word of title, short tear in map repaired, slight loss to blank area in top left of map

FIRST EDITION, small 4to (170 x 135mm.), [vi], 120, [xxii] pp., folding engraved map, dark red morocco by Elizabeth Greenhill, without blanks A1 and Q4, title shaved at head just touching first word of title, short tear in map repaired, slight loss to blank area in top left of mapJames's account of his search for the north-west passage to the South Seas from May 1631 to October 1632. His voyage was sponsored by the Bristol Society of Merchant Venturers, in opposition to the London-financed expedition under Luke Foxe (see lot 495). James set out from Bristol in his ship, Henrietta Maria, on 3 May 1631 and entered Hudson's Bay. Ice packs prevented him penetrating further north so he explored the western and southern sides of the bay, the latter of which he named New South Wales (he also named a bay after himself and a cape after his ship). He and his rival, Foxe, met there in August but Foxe headed home before winter set in. James decided to pass the winter on Charlton Island, at the southern end of James Bay, where he and his crew remained from October until the following July. He made one more attempt to find the passage which was soon abandoned because of the ice; the ship finally returned to Bristol in October 1632. This narrative of James's expedition describes the trials and tribulations of the crew's survival through a bitter winter, and it later proved the inspiration for Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. However, James also details the navigational instruments he used together with his findings, proving him to be a competent navigator. "This book is rare in any condition, with the map containing in the upper left corner a portrait of Captain James, especially so" (Sabin).

the strange and dangerous voyage of captaine thomas james, in his intended discovery of the northwest passage into the south sea... with an appendix concerning longitude, by master henry gellibrand. london: john legatt, for john partridge, 1633

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