A MISSIONARY VOYAGE TO THE SOUTHERN PACIFIC OCEAN PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1796, 1797, 1798 IN THE SHIP DUFF

Full leather boards with the title in gilt to the spine. (old water stains on these covers) Marbled end papers. Folding maps. 420 pages. 12 extra pages at rear with names of subscribers. The front board has come loose from the binding at the spine joint. A very good copy.

Compiled from Journals of the Officers and the Missionaries; and Illustrated with Maps, Charts, and Views, Drawn by Mr. William Wilson, and Engraved by the Most Eminent Artists. With a Preliminary Discourse on the Geography and History of the South Sea Islands; and an Appendix Including Details Never Before Published, of the Natural and Civil State of Otaheite; by a Committee Appointed for the Purpose by the Directors of the Missionary Society.

The voyage of the Duff, undertaken by the London Missionary Society for the purpose of establishing a mission in Tahiti, became the first such voyage to sail the little-known waters of the Pacific Ocean. "After two hundred and eight days the vessel reached Tahiti, landing seventeen missionaries there, a further twelve at Tonga, and one on the Marquesas. Trouble with the natives arose and three of the missionaries in Tonga were killed. Others were compelled to seek refuge at Sydney. Nevertheless the work was maintained and extended by heroic members of the band as opportunities offered. Several of the missionaries settled in Australia and founded families important to Australian history" - Ferguson. "The account is of extraordinary interest for its fresh and somewhat naive viewpoint, and for its descriptions of customs passed over by the nautical and geographical explorer" - Cox. The charts made an important contribution to South Pacific cartography.

‘The London Missionary Society was founded in 1795, mainly to send missions to Polynesia. The voyage of the Duff was undertaken for the purpose of establishing a mission in Tahiti, and a settlement of twenty-five persons was formed… Apart from the missionary interest of this account, the voyagers made many important discoveries of islands’ (Hill). There are two issues of this work, with differing subscriber’s lists, the first of which was printed by Gosnell on larger and finer paper, as here. The authorship of the work is variously attributed depending on which bibliography is consulted. An ‘Advertisement’ in this copy states, ‘the body of the journal is the composition of Mr. William Wilson, from the Captain’s [James Wilson’s] papers, his own, and the Missionaries reports’. The editor of the work was Thomas Haweis, of the London Missionary Society, and the long Preliminary Discourse was written by Samuel Greatheed, using the then unpublished account of James Morrison, one of the pardoned Bounty mutineers. wikipedia.