AN HISTORICAL JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS AT PORT JACKSON AND NORFOLK ISLAND, with the Discoveries which have been made in New South Wales and in the Southern Ocean, since the publication of Phillip's Voyage, by HUNTER, John.: - 1793

London, Printed for John Stockdale, Piccadilly, (January 1. 1793).. compiled from the Official Papers; Including the Journals of Governors Phillip and King, and of Lieut. Ball; and the Voyages from the First Sailing of the Sirius in 1787, to the Return of that Ship's Company to England in 1792. FIRST EDITION 1793, ex library copy. 4to, approximately 275 x 235 mm, 11 x 9 inches, engraved portrait frontispiece by D. Orme after R. Dighton, engraved title page with vignette from a sketch by the author, 10 engraved plates and 5 maps, 2 folding, "Drawn on the spot by Captains Hunter & Bradley, Lieutenant Dawes, & Governor King"., pages: [16], 1-583, [1] - a blank, with 5 page Subscribers List following engraved title page, bound in modern half calf over cloth sides, gilt raised bands and gilt rules to spine, gilt ship motif in compartments, gilt lettered red morocco label, all edges speckled, marbled endpapers, 20th century large pictorial bookplate of W. J (Jock) McEldowney, New Zealander on second free endpaper. Slight rubbing to upper corners, pale foxing to margins of portrait, small blind library stamp to top margin of portrait, title page and all but one of the plates (just catching edge of image on 2 plates), and in top margin of 7 text pages, title page trimmed at top and bottom with loss of date of publication underneath imprint, old ink house name "Earlsferry House 1826" at top of second endpaper, one folding map very slight damaged on a couple of folds and with a little light browning, long ago mounted on linen, the second folding map has a small closed inner edge tear, neatly repaired on reverse, occasional light foxing to margins including margins of some plates, small old paper repair to inner margin of page 383, no loss of printed area. A good sturdy copy. The plates include "Family of New South Wales engraved by William Blake after a sketch by Governor King and "View of the settlement on Sydney Cove" which is the earliest representation of the town of Sydney. "Hunter (1738-1821), vice-admiral and governor of New South Wales in succession to Governor Phillip, went out as second in command on the Sirius, in the first convict fleet. He was an experienced and scientific navigator. With his encouragement, the exploration of the coastline of Australia made rapid progress, and the early discoveries of Flinders and Bass owe much to him. His journal is a very valuable work on the early history of English settlement in Australia (Hill). It seems that several copies were issued with the imprint cropped, losing the date "In many cases the binder has accidentally shaved the date from the foot of the rather too long title-page.....This imperfection is of such frequent occurrence, howerver, that collectors have tended to be more tolerant of it in this book than they would be in another" Wantrup, Australian Rare Books 1788-1900, page 70; Ferguson, Bibliography of Australia, Volume I, page 60, No.152; Hill, Pacific Voyages, Volume I, page 151. HEAVY BOOK WHICH WILL REQUIRE EXTRA POSTAGE. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE. FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.