Lot 170: SKOGMAN, CARL JOHAN ALFRED

Fregatten Eugenies Resa Omkring Jorden. Stockholm: Adolf Bonnier, 1854

16 parts in 8, 8vo (9 7/8 x 6 1/2 in.; 257 x 166 mm). 18 color lithographed plates, 2 tinted or plain lithographed plates, 4 wood engraved plates, 3 folding maps, 18 wood-engraved vignettes; marginal foxing to text in 2 parts, light occasional text browning, marginal dampstaining to one map and 3 color plates and pigment offsetting to one color plate, text offsetting to 2 wood-engraved plates. Original printed yellow wrappers with wood-engraved vignette; all backstrips perished, sewing loose, upper wrapper of Parts 1--2 frayed with minor losses. Calf-backed folding case, ochre and teal lettering pieces.

LITERATURE

Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography 3:2051; Hill (2004) 1578

NOTE

The official account of the first Swedish circumnavigation by the frigate Eugenie, which was also the first Swedish man-of-war to reach Hawaii, preserved in the scarce original wrappers. The vessel was commanded by Captain Christian Adolf Virgin. His lieutenant (and assistant astronomer) Carl Johan Skogman wrote the account of the voyage.

The Eugenie left Sweden in November 1851, rounded Cape Horn en route for the Pacific with stops at Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, Valparaiso, Callao, Guyacquil and Panama. In 1852 the frigate called at the Galapagos and arrived in June at Honolulu harbor, which occasioned Skogman to describe the method of towing ships into port there by use of native manpower. He also provides a vivid picture of the town and marketplace, the physical appearance and dress of the Hawaiians, their customs and dwellings, including those of the King and his court. An official audience between the king and the ship's officers took place on 26 June which concluded with a commercial treaty between the United Kingdoms of Norway and Sweden and Hawaii. Prized for its fine color plates, the narrative includes three views of Hawaii, four of Tahiti, two of Manila, and one of Mission Dolores in San Francisco. On its return voyage, the Eugenie made port, among others, at San Francisco, Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, Fiji, Sydney Guam, Hong Kong, Canton, Manila, the Cocos Islands, and Mauritius and Réunion before rounding the Cape of Good Hope. She also stopped at St. Helena to see Napoleon's grave, the Sargasso Sea, the Azores, and Plymouth, England before returning to Stockholm.