Vancouver's Voyage of Discovery

Vancouver, Captain George. A voyage of discovery to the northern Pacific Ocean and round the world... performed in the years 1790, 1791, 1792, 1793, 1794 and 1795 in the Discovery, sloop of war, and armed tender, Chatham. London, 1798. Three volumes quarto, with 18 plates or charts, 2 leaves of errata at the end of the third volume, bound without half-titles, and large folio atlas with 10 folding charts and 6 plates of coastal profiles, the text volumes in contemporary diced calf skilfully rebacked in style, the atlas finely bound in half calf to match. Some foxing on the plates as usual, the atlas charts with small old linen reinforcements, now discoloured, on the versos at the fold intersections. A handsome set of the first edition of the commander's account of this major voyage of discovery. Vancouver sailed via the Cape of Good Hope to the uncharted coast of south-western Australia, where he named King George III Sound and Cape Hood, then to New Zealand, Hawaii and the northwest coast of America, spending three seasons surveying from California to Alaska and finally confirming the non-existence of a passage between the Pacific and Hudson Bay. The atlas includes a 'Chart shewing part of the S.W. coast of New Holland '.