442. Cook ( Captain James) [Second Voyage] A Voyage towards the South Pole and Round the World, 2 vol., first edition , engraved portrait and 63 plates, charts and portraits, many folding, offsetting, vol.1 2X4 heavily spotted, vol.2 sig Z with a few spots, handsome contemporary tree calf, spines richly gilt and with red and green morocco labels, joints cracked, corners a little worn, spine ends chipped or nicked, slightly rubbed, [Hill p.61; Mitchell Library Cook 1216; Rosove 77A1; Sabin 16245; PMM 223], 4to, for W. Strahan and T.Cadell, 1777 .
est. £2000 – £3000
"Cook was a brilliant navigator and hydrographer, an excellent administrator and planner, and probably the first sea captain to realize the importance of preserving the health and well-being of his crew...On his second voyage, of 112 men on board the Resolution , which he commanded, Cook lost only one by disease - and that not scurvy - a unique achievement in his time." (PMM).