289

John Ledyard.

Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean.

Hartford, CT: Nathaniel Patten, 1783
208 pages. 8vo, later ½ morocco, minor wear; lacking map as usual, leaf C4 lacking and in facsimile, leak X3 lacking bottom margin with loss of catchword, pencil sketch of boat on verso of title page, moderate finger-soiling, minor dampstaining; early owners' scrawled inscriptions on title page and elsewhere.

  • Notes: First edition of the first American work on Cook's final voyage--Ledyard was the only American among the crew. This also makes the book the first American book describing either Hawaii or Alaska (64 pages are devoted to Hawaii). It was granted copyright by a special act of the Connecticut legislature, making it the first book granted copyright in the United States--federal copyright protection did not begin until 1790.

    Evans 17998; Forbes 52; Hill 991; Howes L181 ("d"); Lada-Mocarski 36; Sabin 39691; Streeter sale VI:3477. 

    Provenance: early owner John Miller (signatures on title and page 99); 1826 inscriptions of Josiah Y. Paine on page [4] and elsewhere.
  • Condition:
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November 20, 2025 10:30 AM EST
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