Dernier Voyage du Capitain Cook autour du Monde, ou se trouvent les circonstances de sa mort...

Second French (language) edition. 8vo. Sewn as originally issued, untrimmed with large margins, in drop-back box, with black morocco label to spine. xvi, 200pp. Berne,

Although the type was reset and the title page altered slightly this second French language edition is nearly identical to the first, which was published in Berne in the preceding year. Both are "of great rarity" according to Holmes. They include, in addition to Zimmerman's narrative, a life of Cook taken from Lichtenberg's Gottingisches Magazin... of 1780. This, the first biography of Cook, was written with material supplied by the Forsters.

Zimmerman was coxswain of the Discovery. He gives a valuable account of "below decks" life on board the ship, and although his narrative is not without errors, Homes concedes that the work has "an ingeniousness and charm which differentiate it from other accounts". Indeed, Sir Joseph Banks noted that it contained "some curious details, not in the larger work" (ie. the official account).

Forbes (Hawaiian Nat. Bib.) I, 59; du Reitz, 1364; cf. Lada-Mocarski, 33; cf. Hill, p333.

Stock Code: 197609