Parkinson, Sydney | First edition of this illustrated narrative of Cook's first voyage

Parkinson, Sydney

A Journal of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His Majesty's Ship the Endeavour. London: Printed for Stanfield Parkinson, 1773

Large 4to (333 x 271 mm). Engraved frontispiece portrait, 26 plates, map of New Zealand; scattered light spotting, generally quite mild but with a few more pronounced instances, offsetting from the plates. Contemporary polished calf ruled in gilt, edges tooled in gilt, spine panels decorated in gilt, with gilt red morocco label, edges stained yellow; a few scuffs and some light fading to boards, wear to extremities with corners bumped, joints starting, front hinge cracked, losses at the spine ends, and a chip to corner of the spine label.

Parkinson's important illustrated account of Cook's first voyage, with handsome plates and the rare explanatory remarks.

An attractive, wide-margined copy of the first edition, with the rare section of Explanatory Remarks by John Fothergill in a very fine contemporary calf binding.

Parkinson accompanied Captain James Cook on his first voyage to the South Pacific and New Zealand, serving as draughtsman under naturalist Joseph Banks. As botanical artist for the Endeavor voyage, Parkinson produced a large number of magnificent botanical and natural history drawings of Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. His untimely death near the end of the voyage while en route from Batavia to the Cape of Good Hope resulted in a dispute between his brother Stanfield and Banks over ownership of his manuscripts and drawings. When Hawkesworth learned of the impending publication of this work, he sought and received an injunction to prevent its appearance until sometime after the official account was issued. Hawkesworth went so far as to omit mention of Parkinson's name from the official account, and even failed to give him credit for his botanical illustrations.

The present work stands as the most attractive of the unofficial accounts of Cook's first voyage. It contains extensive descriptions of Australia and New Zealand, and is the first work to properly identify the kangaroo by name. The handsome plates are from Parkinson's drawings, depicting natives of Tierra del Fuego, Tahiti, and New Zealand; scenes in Tahiti and New Zealand; and native artifacts. Also included are several vocabularies of South Sea languages.

This first edition was published in 1773. Some years later, Stanfield Parkinson went insane and the unsold sheets of the book were sold to Dr. Fothergill, who added a section of "Explanatory Remarks" and a Postscript in order to counter Stanfield's ill-tempered preface. The present copy includes this rare section of extra text, almost never seen with the first edition. It also bears a distinguished provenance, with the bookplate of John Smyth of Heath Hall. Smyth (1748–1811) had a prolific public career, serving as a Member of Parliament and the Board of Trade, a Lord of the Treasury, Master of the Royal Mint, and Lord of the Admiralty.

REFERENCES

Beddie 712; Hill 1308; Holmes 7; Sabin 58787; Davidson, A Book Collector's Notes, pp. 54-6; NMM I:564; O'Reilly & Reitman 371; Kroepelien 944; Cox I, p. 58; Bell P100; Streeter Sale 2406

PROVENANCE

John Smyth of Heath (bookplate on front pastedown)