The Journals of Captain James Cook on his Voyages of Discovery; Vol. I The Voyage of the Endeavor 1768-1771 | Vol. II The Voyage of the Resolution and Adventure 1772-1775 | Vol. III, Part 1 & 2 The Voyage of the Resolution and Discovery 1776-1780 | Volume IV The Life of Captain James Cook [Hakluyt Society Extra Series No. XXXIV-XXXVII]

Cambridge: The Hakluyt Society - University Press, 1955. First Edition, 1st Printing. Near Fine/Very Good. [Four volumes published and issued from 1955 to 1974] [9.5x6.5in] Vol. I (1955) - cclxxxiv [introduction], 684 pp., frontispiece color portrait of Cook, 45 illustrations and maps, with several in color and fold out, bibliographic references, appendices and index; Vol. II (1961) - clxx [introduction], 1021 pp., frontispiece color illustration of Resolution, 82 illustrations and maps, appendices, index, with separate Volume II addenda/corrigenda (1969, pp. 1-6 [1]), tipped in card "With the complements of the National Geographical Society; Vol. III, Part One (1967) - ccxxiv [introduction], 718 pp., frontispiece color portrait of Cook, 68 maps and illustrations, 13 sketch maps in text, bibliographic references, with separate Royal Society article 'Cook the Navigator' from a 1969 lecture by Beaglehole, Part Two (1967) - viii, 724-1647 pp., frontispiece illustration of David Samwell, 10 illustrations, two maps in text and fold out at back cover, appendices with extracts of Officer Journals, ships companies and documents list, index, with separate Cook and the Russians addendum [1973, pp. 1-9]; Vol IV (1974) The Life of Captain James Cook, xi, 760 pp., 51 illustrations including color frontispiece portrait of Cook by Nathaniel Dance, 18 illustrations, five sketch maps (with one-fold out), bibliography and index, with a separate reprint of an article from The Mariner's Mirror, 1969, Vol 55, No. 4 'Some problems of Cook's biographer' [pp. 365-382], by Beaglehole, also tipped in invitation to the coronation of King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV of Tonga to Luis Marden;

Dark blue cloth covers with gilt lettering on spine and stamped gilt portrait of Cook on front, all edges trimmed; Pale blue dust jackets to volumes I - III with light gray dust jacket to volume IV; Minimal shelf wear to covers, edges and corners, text, maps and illustrations unblemished, some age toning to dust jackets with darkening to spine, sunning and shadow offsets to volume IV dust jacket [Hill 367, Beddie/Mitchell 4762]. DK. Captain James Cook (1728-1779), British explorer, navigator and cartographer, substantially contributed to the knowledge of the Pacific Islands and the coast of North America and Siberia in the three voyages spanning twelve years from 1768 to 1780. There have been many editions of the journals over the years, the Hakluyt Society's 1955-1968 publication edited by J. C. Beaglehole (John Cawte) and R. A. Skelton (Raleigh Aslin) has become the definitive and comprehensive edition. Volume IV was intended to be issued with the other volumes, but was delayed after Beaglehole's passing in 1971 and was issue by his son Timothy in 1974. All of these volumes were part of the Hakluyt Extra Series numbers 34 to 37.

John Cawte Beaglehole (1901-1971) was a New Zealand historian with Victoria University. He is mainly known for his comprehensive work editing the Journals of Captain James Cook and writing this biography in his last years. The edited Journals were published by the Hakluyt Society and quickly became a definitive resource and reference work for scholars on the Cook voyages.