An Account of the Pelew Islands, Situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean; Composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and Some of his Officers, who, in August 1783, were there Shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a Packet Belonging to the Honourable East India Company. [To which is added] A Supplement, Compiled from the Journals of the Panther and Endeavour, Two Vessels Sent by the Honourable East India Company to those Islands in 1790
London: Printed for Captain Henry Wilson by W. Bulmer and Co., 1803. Fifth Edition. Hardcover. Quarto. [4] xvii [i], 244, [8] 72pp., 1 folding map, 17, 2 plates. Original three quarter leather over brown boards with gilt lettering and ruling on black leather label of spine. Marbled endpapers. Frontispiece portrait engraving of Capt. Henry Wilson. Three wing "Chart of the Pelew Islands and Adjacent Seas," bound in following dedication page.
Description of the Pelew Islands features and its inhabitants, compiled after Captain Wilson's shipwreck during the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War. First published in 1788 the supplement, bound in here, was first published in 1803. The Antelope was shipwrecked on the previously unexplored Pelew Islands in August 1783. Wilson and his crew eventually managed o build a small vessel and sailed to Macao. On their return to England they brought with them Prince Lee Boo, one of the King's sons. The Prince was celebrated and introduced into the highest levels of society but soon died of smallpox. The islands had been claimed by Spain previously though it was Wilson who made the first sustained contact with the islanders. The plates depict the crew and islanders, including the first encounter, King Abba Thulle, Ludee one of the wives of the king, views of the island and the villages, a plan of the Englishmen's harbour, the ship Oroolong, and several plates with artifacts found on the island.
Binding with some scuffing and chips along edges and boards heavily rubbed. Some chipping along edges and and spine cracked half way at front joint. Endpapers faded along edges and binding reinforces with blue cloth tape at gutters. Previous owner's inked note on front free endpaper. Lightly starting at plain front and back endpapers. Light foxing of block at some pages at front and back; block lightly age-toned. Light offsetting of some plates to facing pages. Binding in overall fair, interior in good, plates in very good condition. Fair to very good condition. Item #53666
Price: $750.00