Bligh's Bounty log among travelogues under hammer

The Log of HMS Bounty by Lieutenant William Bligh, the captain’s record of his voyage to the South Seas, will be one of the books and maps on offer at the online auction of AntiquarianAuctions.com starting on April 14.

Other lots of interest include William Burchell’s map of the extratropical part of Southern Africa, in which “his own track is laid down entirely from the geographical and astronomical observations made” during the naturalist’s extensive journey in Southern Africa from 1811-15.

This first edition was published in 1822 in London by Longman, Hurst, Tees, Orme, Brown and Green. It is expected to fetch $1,750/2,500.

A map of the Eastern Frontier of the Cape Colony, compiled by Henry Hall (draughtsman to the Royal Engineers, Cape Town has an estimate of $2,500/3,000.

This first edition from 1856 was published by Edward Stanford in London.

Henry Hall was a Dubliner who settled in the Cape Colony in 1842 and worked on the Eastern Frontier for the Royal Engineers. The underappreciated mapmaker made notable contributions to the cartography of Southern Africa.

The Log of HMS Bounty is the Bligh’s logbook of the proceedings of the armed vessel Bounty in a voyage to the South Seas, to take a breadfruit from the Society Islands to the West Indies. The log contains many important passages that do not appear in either of Bligh’s published books, and patiently collected information on the social life of the Tahitians.

The two volumes were published by Golden Cockerel Press in 1937 with four woodcut illustrations by Lynton Lamb. This first edition copy comes from the library of Birch Bernstein and is estimated at $900/1,000.

Henry Stanley’s In Darkest Africa, or the Quest, Rescue and Retreat of Emin, Governor of Equatoria, with six etchings and 150 woodcut illustrations and maps was published by Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington in London in 1890.

The book, number 175 of 250 copies in the limited edition Demy Quarto Edition De Luxe, is estimated at $3,500/4,000.

This was to be Stanley’s last expedition to Africa. He was charged with rescuing Emin Pasha (viceroy), who had been appointed governor in the southern Sudan by the British, and had been forced to retreat to Lake Albert (no in northern Uganda) by an uprising led by and Islamic holy man.

In 188, Stanley journeyed up the Congo and to the lake, but Emin refused to leave. Eventually persuaded by Stanley, they proceeded to the Indian Ocean by way of the Semliki River.

The Victorian Falls Zambesi River, sketched on the spot by Thomas Baines, has 11 views of the Victoria Falls, the Zambezi River and the Gorges, with descriptive text by the artist.

Sketches include a bird’s-eye view of the Victoria Falls from the west, the falls by sunrise, and a herd of buffaloes driven to the edge of the chasm.

Published by Day and Son in London, it is expected to fetch $4,000/5,000.