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Very rare 2nd edition of the abridged Swedish translation of William Bligh's account of the mutiny on the Bounty

BLIGH, William.
Engelske capitainens Wilhelm Blighs resa, genom Södra Werlds-Hafvet, tolf hundrade sjömil i öpen bät, frän Tofoa till Timor.
Including: Nyaste tidningar frän Otahiti.
Uppsala, Joh. Edmans Enka, "1792" [= 1793]. 12mo. With a woodcut vignette on title-page, two woodcut headpieces and a woodcut tailpiece, and a divisional title for the appendix with the latest news from Tahiti. With "resa" set in rococo decorated roman capitals on the title-page and Blighs name in script capitals. Contemporary blue stiff paper wrappers. "119" [=117], [1], [2 blank] pp.
€ 3,250
Very rare second edition of the first Swedish translation (abridged) of William Bligh's account of his voyage to Tahiti as commander of the Bounty and the mutiny and subsequent open-boat voyage of part of the crew in 1789, "one of the most remarkable incidents in the whole of maritime history" (Hill).
In 1787, the English naval officer William Bligh (1754-1817), who had accompanied Captain Cook on his third voyage to the Pacific, was sent off to the Pacific for the purpose of introducing breadfruit trees from the South Sea Islands to the West Indies as cheap food for the slaves. After spending five months at Tahiti, he set sail for the Caribbean by way of Tonga, where the famous mutiny took place. Bligh and 18 of his men were set adrift in the ship's small launch boat and made a remarkable voyage to Timor. "In the course of this hazardous journey Bligh took the opportunity to chart and name parts of the unknown north-east coast of New Holland [= Australia] as he passed along it" (Wantrup).
Samuel Ödmann (who signed the preface "S.O") made the present Swedish abridged translation, with added notes, translated from two German editions by Georg Forster and Johann Reinhold Forster, but Ödmann also checked his version against the London edition of 1790. It includes an additional chapter dealing with Captain William Sever's visit to the Society Islands in 1788 (an abridgement in Swedish of chapter 20 of Stockdale's Botany Bay, 1789) and some notes on Tahiti by the translator Samuel Ödmann.Ödmann's translation of Bligh's account is known in two editions, but since the title-pages give no edition statement and are textually identical, and the typesetting of the two editions is surprisingly similar, they are often confused. DuRietz's Swansea, a bibliography on books and articles relating to Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, Hawaii and the Pacific Ocean and its islands, presents the differences between these editions and dates them. The present second edition is much rarer, almost never appearing in the common reference works or on the market.With the bookplate of the Swedish treasurer and book collector Gustaf Emil Berndtsson (1875-1964), active in Göteborg, and a 19th-century owner's inscription on the inside front wrapper. With only a few minor spots and the spine partly tattered. Very good, wholly untrimmed copy. Very rare second (corrected and improved) edition ("1792" [= 1793]) of the Swedish translation of Bligh's account of a famous and important voyage to Tahiti and its infamous mutiny. DuRietz, Swansea, series A (1731-1850), part 1, A1:1-6, A1x2 (cf. A1x1: 1792 ed.); Ferguson 129 (erroneously described as the 1792 ed.); LIBRIS 2437568 (2 copies: cf. 2437567 for the 1792 ed.); cf. Kroepelien 90 (1792 ed.); O'Reilly & Reitman 554 (1792 ed.); WorldCat 943942433 (citing LIBRIS for the 1792 ed.). For the author and the English edition: Hill 132; Howgego, to 1800, B107; Wantrup, pp. 128-129.
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Related Subjects:

Australia, new zealand & pacific  >  Cartography & Exploration | Pacific Islands
Cartography & exploration  >  Australia, New Zealand & Pacific | Voyages & Travel
Maritime history  >  Mutiny, Piracy & Shipwrecks