Lot 39: Frederick William Beechey (1796-1856)

Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beering's Strait, to co-operate with the polar expeditions: performed in His Majesty's Ship Blossom... in the years 1825, 26, 27, 28. London: Samuel Bentley for Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1831. 2 volumes, 8o (214 x 135mm). Half-titles. 3 engraved maps, 2 folding, 1 double-page, 23 plates (4 double-page lithographs, 6 aquatints, 2 wood-engravings, 11 engravings). (Plates spotted.) Contemporary green half calf gilt (scuffed, spines discoloured). Provenance : John Bonee (signatures); Santa Barbara Mission Archive Library (bookplates). Second edition of 'one of the most valuable of modern voyages' (Hill). 'Captain Beechey, near Point Barrow, Alaska, and Sir John Franklin had arrived within fifty leagues of each other when the latter was compelled by weather to turn back. Beechey's book... relates to extensive visits to Pitcairn Island, the Tuamotu Archipelago, the Society Islands and Tahiti, Alaska, Hawaii, Macao, Okinawa, and the coast of California. His book provides an important account of Monterey and San Francisco before the American conquest and gives his impressions of the missionaries in San Francisco. Beechey describes the Eskimos of the north and relates his meeting with John Adams, last survivor of the mutiny on the Bounty, who gave Beechey a lengthy account.' (Hill p.19). Arctic Bibliography I,1228; cf.Hill I,p.19 (the 4o first edition); Sabin 4347. [ With :] F.W.BEECHEY. A Voyage of Discovery towards the North Pole, performed in His Majesty's Ships Dorothea and Trent... 1818. London: Richard Bentley, 1843. 8o (220 x 140mm). 1 folding lithographic map, 6 plates (3 lithographs, 2 folding, 2 engravings and 1 wood-engraving). (Plates browned, the map and folding plates with small tears.) Contemporary blue cloth (rebacked and cornered, modern endpapers). First edition of an account of this abortive attempt to reach the Bering Strait via the North Pole. The second part consists of an account of earlier voyages. Arctic Bibliography I,1230; Hill I,p.19; Sabin 4349. (3).