Volume 1 (of 5) only. [2], xii, [8], 391 pp. With 5 folding engraved charts. (4to) 30x23 cm. (11¾x9"), period calf, rebacked with modern calf, with remains of original leather spine label. First Edition.

The important first volume of what can be considered as the cornerstone of the study of the discovery of the Pacific. Burney sailed with Cook as lieutenant on his second and third voyages. He undertook this seminal study to present a continuous history of Pacific discovery over the 250 years prior to Cook,designed as a ‘prequel’ to Hawkesworth’s collection of the voyages of Byron, Wallis, Carteret, and Cook. The present volume includes the voyage of Magellan, explorations of Cortes, voyages of Garcia Jofre de Loyasa, Sebastian Cabot, Simon de Alcazova, Hernando de Alarcon, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Francis Drake and others. The charts include the whole Pacific; a sketch of the Salomon Islands; the southern tip of South America; the Philippines; and California and the Gulf. Warren Heckrotte notes that chapter XX gives "Some account of the charts to this volume, with miscellaneous observations on the geography of the 16th century" and on the discovery of Australia. The Appendix has "Remarks on the projection of charts, and particularly on the degree of curvature proper to be given to the parallels of latitude."
 

Provenance: F. Moore, 2/98

References: Ferguson, 372; Hill 221; Hocken, pp. 30-34; Sabin, 9387.