A Voyage to Terra Australis by Matthew Flinders

Flinders, Matthew (1774-1814), A Voyage to Terra Australis, undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country, and prosecuted in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's ship the Investigator and subsequently in the armed vessel Porpoise and Cumberland Schooner. With an account of the shipwreck of the Porpoise, arrival of the Cumberland at Mauritius, and imprisonment of the commander during six years and a half in that island. (London: W. Bulmer & Co. for G. and W. Nicol, 1814). Two volumes quarto and one volume elephant folio, finely bound by Aquarius of London, the two quarto volumes in full tan calf, the spines in compartments with contrasting morocco title labels, the atlas in half-calf over marbled boards, some very minor scuffs but a most handsome set. Vol. 1: pp. title page (some paper restorations with a couple of letters supplied), ix (Preface), (x - Contents, List of plates), cciv (Introduction, light waterstain to pp. clviii-clix), 269, vol. 2: pp. 613 (stain to pp. 108 - 110 and 213 - 219) with nine engraved plates after William Westall, some offsetting, occasional blind stamps from the Fraser Institute Montreal. Atlas volume: 16 engraved maps (10 double-page), two double page plates of coastal profiles (edges waterstained), ten botanical plates after Ferdinand Bauer, a couple of the maps with old creases and tissue repairs to tears with loss to a couple of corners. A handsome set of the first edition of the official account of the first circumnavigation of the Australian continent, a landmark work recording in great detail one of the most important voyages in the history of Pacific exploration. The reason for the delay in its publication was due to the fact that on his return voyage to England in late 1803, Flinders was detained in Mauritius by the French authorities and was not released until June, 1810. A Voyage to Terra Australis was eventually published the day before Flinders' death in July, 1814. The scientific content in A Voyage to Terra Australis is of immense importance. Flinders' charts were made with such accuracy that they were in use up until the late nineteenth century. The work includes an appendix compiled by the expedition's botanist, Robert Brown, with illustrations by the great Austrian botanical artist Ferdinand Bauer, who also accompanied Flinders on the voyage. The work of Brown and Bauer is a landmark in the history of Australian botanical science. The topographical plates, engraved after the watercolours made by the expedition's official artist, William Westall, are in many cases the earliest published depictions known of certain locations. In the present copy, all of the maps and plates are first issue, bearing the imprint of G. & W. Nicol and dated 1814. Ferguson 576, Wantrup 67a 'Such is the historical importance of this monumental work that no general collection of Australian books could be considered complete without it. (The Martin Copley set, sold recently by Mossgreen, brought $46,000 + commission. See Lot 31 in that sale.)