A Journal of a Voyage Round the World: In His Majesty's Ship the Endeavour in the Years 1768, 1769, 1770 and 1771

A JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, IN HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP ENDEAVOUR, IN THE YEARS 1768, 1769, 1770 AND 1771. (Cook, James) [Magra, James] London: T. Becket and P.A. de Hondt, 1771. 1st edition first printing, 4to, pp. [leaf - title] [leaf dedication with note at bottom Place this next the Title] 130 [2 leaves]. Period half diced Russia and marbled boards, some minor browning in margins or traces of handling on a few text pages, else a large and very attractive copy. The earliest of the series of so-called 'surreptitious' accounts of Cook's voyages, this published anonymously less than three months after the Endeavour returned and two years before Hawkesworth's official account of the voyage. The dedication leaf printed separately from the rest of the text, to the Admiralty, Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Daniel Solander, implied their approval and gave this work the appearance of authority. However, the Admiralty, Banks and Solander immediately published an advertisement denying all knowledge of this work and the dedication was quickly removed; the result being that very few copies exist with this suppressed added leaf. The authorship has not been conclusively proved, but James Magra is the most likely candidate. He was an American-born midshipman on the Endeavour, whose important proposals twelve years later for the establishment of a colony in New South Wales were supported by Sir Joseph Banks. Magra's authorship was first suggested by Beaglehole and recent scholarship by Alan Frost has given additional weight to this attribution. [Brooke-Hitching cat].