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, 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

An exceptional copy, unsophisticated in original publisher's boards binding, completely uncut and very large (page size 312 x 250 mm). This impressive copy was acquired by its first owner (Brydges, see provenance) in March of the year of publication, 1793; his name does not appear in the list of subscribers, but it is worth noting that the subscription amounted to 595 copies, of which a full two-thirds went to booksellers.

The second governor's important Journal describing the first years of settlement at Sydney was published by Stockdale, who had earlier prepared Phillip's journal for publication. In many ways it is a continuation to Phillip's book and is certainly its equal in importance as the extended official account of the new colony.

Second captain of the Sirius under Phillip for the voyage to Botany Bay, Hunter was an experienced sea captain and the most dedicated navigator of the First Fleeters. Actively engaged in surveying and exploration in New South Wales, he left for England in late 1791 after the loss of the Sirius at Norfolk Island while under his command. He spent the next few years preparing his journals for publication before going to sea again, and finally returning to the colony as its second governor in 1795.

Hunter's particular skills in surveying and charting make his book in effect the first pilot for Australian waters and a significant companion to Cook in particular. The maps here, many of them from original cartography by Hunter, as well as Dawes and Bradley, are very fine. The engraved plates include the well-known "View of the Settlement at Sydney Cove, Port Jackson, 20th August 1788" (the first published engraving of Sydney) and P.G. King's "A Family of New South Wales", engraved by William Blake (Essick, William Blake's Commercial Book Illustrations, XXVII).

Hunter gives an excellent account of recent exploration, prints Phillip's despatches to the end of 1791, and describes the settlement at Norfolk Island (the first account of Norfolk Island and the first publication of anything by Philip Gidley King). The book was edited for the press by the Scottish antiquarian George Chalmers, and was heavily subscribed by booksellers (including 50 copies to Robinson); its clout can easily be measured by noting that its other subscribers include Joseph Banks, Lord Sydney, Evan Nepean, and Alexander Dalrymple.