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• Auction House:
  Mossgreen
• Sale Name:
  The Denis Joachim Collection
• Sale Date:
  19 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 1: Lots 1 - 321
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 10am - Session 2: Lots 322 - 480
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 2pm - Session 3: Lot 481 - 688
  20 Jun 2016 ~ 6pm - Session 4: Lots 689 - 818
• Lot #:
  10
• Lot Description:
  Bligh, Lieutenant William. A Narrative of the Mutiny, on board His Majesty’s Ship Bounty
  and the subsequent voyage of part of the crew, in the ship’s boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. Written by Lieutenant William Bligh. Illustrated with Charts. Quarto, with frontispiece plan of the Bounty’s launch and three charts, uncut in (rebacked) original boards, preserved in a cloth slipcase. London, Printed for George Nicol, 1790.
• Notes:
  First edition of Bligh’s account of the Bounty mutiny. The subject of five feature films, hundreds of books, and thousands of articles, the mutiny on the Bounty is the best known incident in maritime history. William Bligh, who had sailed with Cook, was given command of the Bounty to transport breadfruit plants from the Friendly Islands to the West Indies, where it was hoped they would provide a staple food source for the inhabitants. Shortly after the Bounty had left Tahiti in April 1789 the crew, led by master’s mate Fletcher Christian, mutinied and set Bligh and eighteen loyal crewmen adrift in a twenty-three foot launch. The reasons for the mutiny have been much debated but there is little doubt that, in the main, the mutineers were seduced by the tropical paradise they believed they had found in the South Sea. In their small launch, Bligh and his companions made a remarkable journey of nearly four thousand miles from Tofoa to Timor in six weeks over largely uncharted waters. In the course of this hazardous journey Bligh continued to keep a remarkably detailed and meticulous log in a small notebook and also took the opportunity to chart and name parts of the as yet unknown north-east coast of New Holland as he passed along it – an extraordinary feat of seamanship. The present work was intended to satisfy the immediate public demand for an account of this sensational event. Naturally, Bligh was also anxious that his version of events should be the first to be read by his superiors and the educated public. This was not, however, a hastily written account but Bligh’s full and characteristically meticulous narrative of the latter part of his voyage, illustrated with a plan of the Bounty’s launch and three charts, including the chart of his discoveries on the north-east coast and Torres Strait – indeed, this was the most substantial achievement in Australian coastal discovery before the voyages of Matthew Flinders and George Bass at the end of the 1790s. The substance of the Narrative, together with its plates and charts, was incorporated with only slight alterations into the full ‘official’ account of the voyage published in 1792. Ferguson, 71; Hill 2, 132; Kroepelien, 87; Sabin, 5908a; Wantrup, 61.
• Estimate:
  A$12,000 - 18,000
• Realised Price:
  *****
  

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• Category:
  Books & Manuscripts

This Sale has been held and this item is no longer available. Details are provided for information purposes only.