Captain James Cook (1728-1779) is best known for his three voyages to the Pacific (1768-71; 1772-75; and 1776-79). His discoveries radically changed the western understanding of the world in the late 18th century. He was the first to circumnavigate and chart New Zealand and provided the earliest European accounts of exploration along the eastern coast of Australia and the Hawaiian Islands. On February 14th, 1779, he was killed on Hawaii after attempting to kidnap the chief of the island.

Many contemporary accounts of Cook’s voyages, including charts and engravings, appeared in the late 18th century. The first official account of Cook’s first voyage was published in 1773 by John Hawkesworth in Volumes II and III of An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere... William Strahan and Thomas Cadell published the first official accounts of the second and third voyages in 1777 and 1784. Accounts of his exploration were subsequently translated into French, German, and Dutch.

This map shows the coastlines of northwestern North America and northeastern Asia, extending from Nootka Sound up the Gulf of Alaska, through Bristol Bay, and across the Bering Strait to Russia. The detail is focused on Cook's third and final expedition (1776-79), when he traveled up the northern reach of the Pacific in search of a Northwest Passage. His routes are traced and dated. Cook probed up along the Oregon coast in bad weather to Nootka Sound, where he rested and refitted his ships. They sailed forth to the Alaskan and Chukotskiy peninsulas and from there into the Bering Strait. Cook got as far north as 70° by 41° N before being forced back by the ice off Icy Cape. The expedition came south down the Russian coast and then east to Norton Sound. Cook's expedition then sailed south to Hawaii, where Cook was killed in a dispute with the natives. His second-in-command Clerke took over the expedition and they explored further in Hawaii before returning north to continue the exploration for the Northwest Passage.

References: Falk #1784-13; Jolly #UNIV-199.

Condition: B+

A nice impression issued folding with a 3.5" professionally repaired edge tear at right, a few tiny fold splits that have been closed with archival materials, and a small hole in the top blank margin.