MISCELLANIES..

London, 1781. iv,viii,557,[1]pp. plus pp.*471-*477, plus two maps (one folding), five folding tables, and two plates. Quarto. Contemporary mottled calf, neatly rebacked with original spine laid down. Good. A strange ensemble, but the two articles in the collection of the greatest interest are "The Possibility of approaching the North Pole discussed" and "Journal of a Voyage in 1775. To explore the coast of America, Northward of California." This section, consisting of some ninety pages, was written by Don Francisco de la Bodega and is illustrated by a map of the Pacific Coast of America from Baja to Alaska, with capes named by Bodega marked. Wagner comments at length on the origins of this often inaccurate map. Much of the first article was drawn from information provided by whaling captains. There are several pieces on natural historical subjects, as well as "Ohthere's 'Voyage, and the Geography of the Ninth Century illustrated.'" In addition there is an account, illustrated with an engraved portrait, of "a very remarkable young musician" (i.e. Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Mozart).

The Streeter copy sold in 1968 for $175 to the California collector Warren Heckrotte, and reappeared in his sale in 2015, where it sold for $1750. HILL 56. LADA-MOCARSKI 34. HOWES B177. STREETER SALE 2445. BELL B61. WAGNER NORTHWEST COAST 674