[RICKMAN, JOHN.] Journal of Captain Cook's last voyage to the Pacific Ocean on Discovery; performed in the Years 1776, 1777, 1778, 1779 ... Faithfully Narrated from the original MS. London: E. Newbery, 1781.
8vo (208 x 125 mm). [4], xlvi, 388 pp. Folding engraved frontispiece of the death of Cook, folding map, 4 plates (one folding, three of the plates by Royce, two of these after Dodd). As usual D4 is cancelled and replaced by 4 unsigned leaves. Modern calf tooled in gilt and blind; slipcase. Repaired tears to folding map, one plate with bleeding of edge-staining into the margins, some light overall toning.
Provenance: Miss Cloughs (inscriptions dated 1813 and occasional additions and alterations to the text).

FIRST EDITION OF THIS SCARCE AND IMPORTANT ACCOUNT of Cook's final voyage. The plate showing the death of Cook is the first representation of the Hawaiian Islands. The account of the islands in the text also has a claim to being the first description, dependent on the unestablished priority of Rickman and Johann Heinrich Zimmerman's Reise um de Welt mit Captain Cook. As with most unofficial accounts Rickman is valued for recording matters omitted in the official record (not published until 1784), including the details of the circumstances surrounding Cook's death. Howes R176; Hill, p 517; Lada-Mocarski 32; Sabin 36707.