Lot 3069: KEATE, GEORGE. 1729-1797.

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. London: for G. Nicol, 1788. xxvii, [1], 378, [1] pp. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Captain Wilson, large folding map, and 15 plates. 4to (291 x 229 mm). Period full brown calf, rebacked preserving original gilt spine, custom slipcase. Some light foxing and offset from plates, but generally clean, covers with corners renewed, binding with some general wear.

First edition. Composed from the Journals and Communications of Capt. Henry Wilson, and some of his officers, who, in August 1783, there shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a packet belonging to the Honorable East India Company. "In 1783 the Antelope, commanded by Captain Henry Wilson, ran near one of the Palau Islands, a previously unexplored group, and was wrecked. The entire crew managed to get safely ashore, where they were well treated by the natives and eventually managed to build a small vessel from the wreck in which they reached Macao. They took Prince Lee Boo, one of King Abba Thulle's sons, with them to England where he made a very good impression; he unfortunately soon died of smallpox. Keate, a literary man, composed the relation from the journals and communications of Captain Wilson and some of his officers". (Hill) Pages 365-78 contain a vocabulary of the Pelew language. Hill p 160.
Provenance: Bookplate of Teston Library.