The three voyages of Captain Cook: FIRST: An account of the voyages… for making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere. . .; SECOND: A voyage towards the South Pole, and round the world…; THIRD: A voyage to the Pacific Ocean. . . for making Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere

A COOK FAMILY SET, WITH AN EARLY WOMAN OWNER. "THE BASIS FOR ANY COLLECTION OF PACIFIC BOOKS" First voyage: Three volumes. London, W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1773. Second edition. Second voyage: Two volumes. London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1799. Third edition. Third voyage: Four volumes (three text, one atlas). London: H. Hughs for G. Nicol and T. Cadell, 1785. Second edition. Text: quarto (11 5/8" x 9 3/8", 295mm x 238mm). Atlas (to the third voyage): folio (21 7/8" x 16 1/4", 557mm x 406mm). [Full collation and condition available.] With 2 folding letterpress tables and 205 engravings in toto: 69 maps, of which 45 are folding; and 136 plates, of which 37 are folding. Text bound in slightly later (ca. 1805) tree-marbled calf (re-backed, with the original backstrips laid down). On the spine, 6 panels with three-masted ships gilt. Author and title gilt to black calf in the second panel. Number (sequential: I-VIII) gilt to an inset red calf oval in the fourth panel. Gilt roll to the edges of the boards. Marbled end-papers. All edges of the text-block glazed yellow. Atlas bound in later half calf over marbled paper. On the spine, seven raised bands with anchors gilt to the panels. Title ("PLATES/TO/COOK/&KING'S/VOYAGE") gilt to red sheep in the second panel. Captain James Cook (1728-1779) was a British explorer, cartographer and naval officer, known for his three voyages to the Pacific. He provided the first recorded contact with eastern Australia and Hawaii, and the first circumnavigation of New Zealand. His travels also included the Antarctic, America and the Bering Strait. He sailed to the Southern Hemisphere on the Endeavor (1768-1771) for the first of his three major voyages. His research contributed to the British annexation of Australia and New Zealand. Cook sailed thousands of miles across uncharted water and made an enormous contribution to the geographical knowledge of the Southern Hemisphere. On his first voyage, chronicled by John Hawkesworth, Cook nearly lost a ship on the Great Barrier Reef. He took the following two voyages on the Resolution with companion ships the Adventure (1772-1775) and the Discovery (1776-1779). There was a single vessel for the first voyage, and companion ships for the other two. In his early years, Cook gained acclaim during the Seven Years War for his scientific and accurate navigation around the coast of Newfoundland and the St. Lawrence River. He brought scientists on his voyages, such as botanist Joseph Banks and artist John Webber, who made significant discoveries of their own. During his third voyage to the Pacific, Cook sailed to Hawaii, along the American coast and up to the Bering Strait. However, upon his return to Hawaii, he became involved in a dispute over the kidnapping of a Hawaiian chief that led to his death. Superlatively uncommon is the full and clear ownership marks of Elizabeth Cotton, who acquired the first voyage 7 August 1784 and the second voyage 15 April 1785. Likely she is Elizabeth d'Avenant (née Cotton, 1735-1803; m. 1782) of Cheshire. She was the daughter of Sir Lynch Salusbury Cotton, fourth baronet Cotton of Combermere and uncle to Hester Lynch Thrale (Mrs. Piozzi). The next owner to leave his mark on the volumes was John McAllister (Jr., 1786-1877) a prominent Philadelphian and a cousin of Captain Cook's through his mother, Frances (née Wardale). The elder Mrs. McAllister and Mrs. Elizabeth Cook were friends and correspondents, and the widow Cook sent to Philadelphia various pieces of Cookiana, some of which are now to be found in the National Library of Australia. The armorial bookplate in the atlas is probably that of John Henry Bax (1793-1863) of the Bombay Civil Service. Bax kept journals of his travels -- mainly overland -- between England and India between 1812 and 1825, now held at the British Library (Mss Eur F401) and digitized for the Qatar National Library. Beddie 650 (first voyage), 1226 (second voyage), 1552 (third voyage).