Books

First edition of the first English biography of Cook, from the library of Rodney Disney Davidson (1933-2016), a pivotal figure in preserving Australian national heritage. Kippis's work was "intended to give a well-balanced account of his life from birth to death, including his family and early years, and the capacities in which he was engaged prior to the famous voyages" (Hill). Andrew Kippis (1725-1795) was a Nonconformist minister and editor of Biographia Britannica. In this biography, he discusses the Newfoundland and Labrador surveys, and the three voyages are dealt with in great depth. It also includes tributes from King and Forster, and a selection of elegies written in Cook's honour. Provenance: a) Joseph Berens (1773-1853), governor of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1812 to 1822, with his armorial bookplate on the front pastedown and ink signature on the front flyleaf. Berens was admitted to Lincoln's Inn in 1795, practising law until he was elected member of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1801. b) Rodney Disney Davidson and his wife Marion (b.1935), with their joint armorial bookplate on the front free endpaper. Disney Davidson was a "key person in the growth of the heritage movement in Melbourne and Victoria" (Murphy). He was elected chair of the National Trust of Australia (Victoria) in 1965, serving until 1982, becoming president in 1986. "Throughout his life, Rodney Davidson had continued to build his book collection with great discernment. By the time he began to sell the collection in 2005, it was undoubtedly one of the finest privately owned collections of historical Australian books ever assembled" (ibid). Beddie, 32; Hill 935; Holmes, 69; Kroepelien, 647. Jock Murphy, "Driving force in the heritage movement", Sydney Morning Herald, 5 April 2017. Quarto (290 x 225 mm), pp. xvi, 528. Contemporary marbled calf, neatly rebacked retaining the original spine, flat spine richly gilt in compartments, gilt rolled border to covers, marbled endpapers. Engraved frontispiece portrait of Cook. Lower corners refurbished, minor stripping of leather (mainly to lower cover), board edges a bit rubbed with slight losses, occasional foxing, offsetting from frontispiece, a touch of soiling to last leaf and edges of text. A very good copy.

A comprehensive account of the three major voyages of Captain James Cook, detailing the discoveries and impact of his explorations.