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 important early chart of the Hawaiian Islands is a slightly reduced version of the first printed map of Hawaii. It shows the path of the Resolution and the Discovery that tracks Cook's movements following his first visit to the Sandwich Islands in January 1778 and his return in November of the same year. The large inset depicts Kealakekua Bay where the great navigator met his untimely demise on February 14, 1779. Finely engraved by Thomas Conder.

References: cf. Fitzpatrick pp.16-17.

Condition: A

Issued folding, now flattened, with a binding trim at bottom left that has been professionally replaced with period-correct paper, and a tiny binding tear that just enters the map border that has also been professionally repaired.