A Voyage to the South Sea.
Cooke, Edward.
B. Lintot and R. Gosling, ( 1712), London
(22), 456, (12) pp. b/w folding map as frontispiece. b/w plates, folding maps in text.
Price: $2000
First edition, and rare. One of the classic South Seas privateering voyages, and the source for “Robinson Crusoe.” “Edward Cooke was second captain on board the ‘Duchess’, the ship which accompanied the ‘Duke’, both under Captain Woodes Rogers, on a privateering voyage around the world… It is generally accepted that Daniel Defoe used this account of Alexander Selkirk’s years on Juan Fernandez Island for his ‘Robinson Crusoe’ as it was the first book containing it.” See Hill 372 who notes that this first edition was “hastily produced … in order to beat Woodes Rogers’s account to the market.” See also Streeter IV, 2428. Howes, C-733. NMM Catalog IV, 99. A classic account, bound in later full calf with raised bands and spine label. Some rubbing. Front board and first signature nearly detached. Small spot on frontispiece map, owner’s signature on title page, else text and plates clean.