FLINDERS, Matthew (1774-1814). A Voyage to Terra Australis; undertaken for the purpose of completing the discovery of that vast country,... in the years 1801, 1802, and 1803, in His Majesty's Ship The Investigator. London: W. Bulmer for G. & W. Nicol, 1814.

Text only, 2 volumes (of 3, lacking atlas), large 4to (325 x 243 mm). 9 engraved plates by William Westal. (Some minor spotting.) 19th-century half green morocco (minor scuffing to extremities). Provenance: John Robinson, Civil Engineer (bookplate).

FIRST EDITION OF THE TEXT OF THE FLINDERS' MONUMENTAL WORK OF AUSTRALIAN EXPLORATION. "Flinders was the first commander to circumnavigate the Australian continent, and the first to give it its present name" (Hill). Flinders sailed from England on 18 July 1801, and during the next two years he surveyed the entire coast of Australia from Cape Leeuwin to Bass Strait. He returned to Port Jackson in 1803 having completed the first circumnavigation of Australia, thus establishing it as a continent. Flinders devoted the remainder of his life to the publication of this work, which was formally published one day before his death on 19 July 1814. It is a day-by-day record of the expedition but also includes a lengthy introduction detailing earlier South Seas voyages and an appendix by Robert Brown, the botanist accompanying the expedition. Flinders took great pains to insure the accuracy of the work which is of monumental cartographical significance. Wantrup calls Flinders' narrative "the most outstanding book on the coastal exploration of Australia…the centerpiece of any collection of books dealing with Australian coastal discovery" (Wantrup, p.144). The two text volumes were originally accompanied by a folio atlas containing 16 charts and 12 engraved plates. Ferguson 576; Hill 614; Ingelton 6487; Kroepelien 438; Nissen BBI 673; Stafleu & Cowan TL2 1806; Wantrup 67a.


Estimate $1,000-1,500

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