GEORGE DIXON (C. 1755-1800), EDITOR

A Voyage Round the World; But More Particularly to the North-West Coast of America: Performed in 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, in The King George and Queen Charlotte, Captains Portlock and Dixon. London: George Goulding, 1789. THICK- AND LARGE-PAPER COPY, 4° (295 x 235mm). Very large engraved folding map 'Chart of the North West Coast of America', 7 HAND-COLOURED ZOOLOGICAL PLATES, 13 plain engraved plates and maps, of which 7 folding or double-page, and one leaf of music entitled 'Indian Song as generally Sung by the Natives of Norfolk Sound previous to Commencing trade'. (Lacking half-title, the ornithological plates possibly washed, occasional faint browning and offsetting.) 19th-century black half calf over marbled-paper covered boards (rebacked preserving original spine).

DELUXE FIRST EDITION OF THIS ACCOUNT OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST, a voyage undertaken by the newly-formed King George's Sound Company to establish a fur trade between the northwest American coast and China. With Dixon as Captain of the Queen Charlotte and Nathaniel Portlock (see lot 150) as Captain of the King George, the expedition sailed to Prince William Sound where the two ships then parted. Dixon continued down the coast, discovered Queen Charlotte Island, Port Mulgrave, Norfolk Bay, and Dixon Archipelago, and made three stops in Hawaii for the purpose of trading and acquiring provisions. The ship subsequently stopped at Canton to trade and finally returned to Dover in September 1788. This copy seems to be a variant between Forbes' forms B and C, being on thick-paper with the natural history plates hand-coloured. A direct comparison between this copy and a normal-paper copy (see following lot), shows that there are numerous leaves with minor typographical re-settings and variations hitherto unmentioned in the bibliographic literature; a list of these differences is available upon request. Cox II, 27-28; Forbes 161; Hill 117; Howes D-365; Lada-Mocarski 43; Sabin 20364.

Travel, Science & Natural History

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