Sold for $5,355

2 volumes in one, 4to (270 x 205 mm). 4 engraved folding maps, 12 engraved plates [4 folding]. (Some spotting and dust-soiling, a few short tears to folds of maps and plates.) Modern tree calf gilt. Provenance: Collector's bookplate, a few pencil marks. 

FIRST EDITION, second issue, with the title-page and dedication dated 1770. "This important collection of voyages was compiled by Dalrymple while admiralty hydrographer. The first volume contains translations from Spanish voyages beginning with Ferdinand Magellan in 1519 and ending with Pedro Fernandes de Quiros in 1606. Included is the account of Adelantado Alvaro Mendana de Neyra's voyage to the Solomon Islands. Volume two consists of the Dutch voyages of William Schoten and Jacob Le Maire, Abel Tasman, and Jacob Roggeveen. Dalrymple was the first critical editor of discoveries in Australasia and Polynesia. This work was published to strengthen his claim of the existence of a southern continent, which was finally dispelled by Cook's second voyage. An avid mercantilist, Dalrymple theorized that the unexploited lands of the South Pacific would serve to augment England's expanding trade" (Hill 410). Sabin 18338.