A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels . . . (complete in 18 vols; 1811-1824)

\" . . . arranged in systematic order: forming a complete history of the origin and progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest ages to the present time. By Robert Kerr, FRS & FAS Edin. Illustrated by maps and charts.\"

The dedication is to Sir Alexander Cochrane, Vice-Admiral of the White.

Full sets of this work, which runs to a total of some 9500 pp plus inserted maps and charts, are rare. Kerr died in 1813, so that about half the volumes were published posthumously, with William Stevenson acknowledged as the editor of Vol 18, which appeared eight years after Vol 17.

Wikepedia has a page derived from Columbia.edu; this lists only 14 vols, which may indicate that Columbia University has these 14 vols. Wikepedia also lists the locations of five single volumes. AbeBooks currently lists two single volumes; some years ago this site listed a full set of 18 vols, priced at $6950. The provenance of the current set since its purchase in March 1935 is available.

In his virtually separate Vol 18, the new editor, W Stevenson, notes that Kerr\'s collection . . . \"is, moreover, especially distinguished by a full and correct account of all Captain Cook\'s voyages\"

Uniformly quarter bound in tan suede and brown calf boards. Five raised bands, gilt rules, titles gilt on red panels, vol numbers gilt on black panels, years in gilt. The leather boards are blind embossed in a diamond pattern with gilt decoration at the edges. The spines are rubbed head and foot, with some rubbing at the joins and some superficial scuffing. All the titling is bright and clear. Most cover corners are rubbed. The front cover of Vol 18 is loose and almost detached. Vol 1 and three other vols are superficially cracked at the (plain) endpapers. The binding of all the vols is tight - in some cases stiff. All page edges are marbled. Many pages are sunned, generally over the type area, but with no loss of legibility. There seem to be no folding and other maps and charts in the vols following the author\'s death.

Vol 1. 1811. xvii + 512 pp. Start of Part I: \"Voyages and travels of discovery, from the era of Alfred, King of England, in the ninth century; to the era of Don Henry, Prince of Portugal, at the commencement of the fifteenth century\"

Vol 2. 1811. iv + 524 pp. Part I contd. Start of Part II: \"General voyages and travels, chiefly of discover; from the era of Don Henry Prince of Portugal, in 1412, to that of George III in 1760\"

Vol 3. 1811. vii + 503 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 4. 1812. vii + 512 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 5. 1812. viii + 512 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 6. 1812. viii + 506 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 7. 1812. viii + 520 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 8. 1813. x + 508 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 9. 1813. viii + 562 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 10. 1814. vi + 512 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 11. 1814. vi + 534 pp. Part II contd.

Vol 12. 1814. viii + 503 pp. Part III. Particular voyages and travels, arranged in systematic order, geographical and chronological, divided into five books - [Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Australia and Polynesia (or the prodigious multitude of islands in the great Pacific Ocean)] - And all these will be further subdivided into particular chapters or sections, correspondent to the geographical arrangements of these several portions of the globe

Vol 13. 1815. vi + 508 pp. Part III contd.

Vol 14. 1815. vii + 507 pp. Part III contd.

Vol 15. 1815. viii + 514 pp. Part III contd.

Vol 16. 1815. xiii + 503 pp. Part III contd.

Vol 17.1816. x + 529 pp. Part III contd. It seems almost, at this point, that the author \"laid down his pen\". He originally planned a Part IV (\"General voyages and travels of discovery during the era of George III, which were conducted upon scientific principles, and by which the geography of the globe has been much perfected\") and a Part V (\"Historical deduction of the progress of navigation, discovery, and commerce, by sea and land, from the earliest times to the present period\"), but these were not proceeded with. Instead, see Vol 18 below.

Vol 18. 1824. viii + 654. The new editor\'s (Stevenson\'s) treatment departs radically from Kerr\'s plan, covered in the first 17 vols. (Although uniformly bound, this vol is also printed by another printer.) It includes a tabular view of the contents of Kerr\'s 17 vols, five chronological chapters, a catalogue of voyages and travels, which is essentially a biblography, and an index to Kerr\'s 17 vols.

This is a handsome and collectable set.