Lot 143: BLIGH, William (1754-1817). 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 Tofua, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East

BLIGH, William (1754-1817). 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 Tofua, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch settlement in the East Indies. London: George Nicol, 1790.

4° (288 x 223mm). Folding engraved frontispiece, 2 folding and one single-page map. (Offsetting onto title and text from frontispiece and maps, offsetting from ribbon marker at inner margins of F2v, F3r.) Contemporary [?]German half calf over sprinkled boards, flat spine with red morocco label and repeated bird ornament, spot-marbled endpapers, brown silk marker (joints rubbed and discreetly repaired, corners bumped). Provenance: Reichsgraf von Veltheim (small inkstamp on title verso).

FIRST EDITION of Captain Bligh's own account of the mutiny against him. Philadelphia and Dublin editions appeared in the same year. When Fletcher Christian and twenty-four crew mutinied near Tonga on the Bounty's homeward voyage, Bligh and eighteen loyal men were forced to cast off in the ship's launch. Armed only with a compass, a quadrant, and a chronometer, Bligh famously navigated over 4,000 miles of open water through Fiji, up the Australian coast and through the Torres Straits to Timor. This voyage of 45 days was spent charting and naming parts of the unknown N.E. coast of New Holland. Although he returned in 1790 to face court-martial proceedings, he was acquitted along with others. Promoted to commander, he made a second attempt to transport bread-fruit trees from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Hill 132; Ferguson 71.

[MORLAND, George (1763-1804).]
Est. £8,000 - £12,000
($12,880 - $19,320)