Narrative of the Surveying Voyage of HMS 'Fly', commanded by Captain F.P. Blackwood RN in Torres Strait, New Guinea, and other Islands of the Eastern Archipelago, during the years 1842-1846. Together with an Excursion into the Eastern Part of Java
London, T. & W. Boone, 1847 [first issue].
Octavo, two volumes, [ii] (advertisements, including one for Stokes), xiv, 424, 8 (advertisements for Boone's 'Library of Australian Travels') pages with 15 illustrations plus 10 plates, a large folding chart of the Great Barrier Reef and a tipped-in half-page advertisement for Leichhardt on page 1 [Volume 1]; and [iv] (advertisements), viii, 362, 8 (publisher's catalogue), [2] pages with 3 illustrations plus 9 plates, a folding map of the eastern end of Java and a tipped-in advertising slip for Dutton's 'South Australia and its Mines' on page 1 [Volume 2].
In the first issue binding of ribbed blue-grey cloth (expertly recased, with the lightly worn spine relined with matching cloth), top edges uncut; covers a little rubbed, marked and bumped; plates and adjacent leaves a little foxed; edges occasionally a little thumbed; tiny stain to the top edge of one volume; trifling signs of use and age; a very good set.
'Jukes's "Narrative" chronicles a significant early surveying voyage during which the Barrier Reef was charted for the first time in detail. His work on the natural history of the reef is considered a classic, strongly supporting Charles Darwin's theory on the formation of coral reefs. The discoveries of the "Fly" in New Guinea and the surrounding islands are of equal importance' (Wantrup). With the armorial bookplate of the important Queensland banker Edward Robert Drury (1832-1896), and the name-label of Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Lygon Cocks of Treverbyn-Vean (Cornwall), in each volume. Wantrup 92a. [2 items].
Item #114094
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