elections from our inventory are listed alphabetically below, in a short title format. You may click on the accompanying "Full Description" link or thumbnail picture to view the full description of that item.

THE FIRST TO NAVIGATE
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE

AMUNDSEN, ROALD. "THE NORTH WEST PASSAGE," Being the Record of a Voyage of Exploration of the Ship "Gjöa" . . . . London: Archibald Constable and Company Limited, 1908. Two folding color maps in rear pockets. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Roald Amundsen's account of the first successful navigation of the legendary Northwest Passage. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

"On board the Uranie, commanded by Captain Freycinet, I traversed the Indian Seas; visited the South Sea Archipelago; and after doubling Cape Horn, and spending three years in dangers and fatigues, saluted the Atlantic as an old friend . . . ."

- Jacques Arago

ARAGO, J. NARRATIVE OF A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, in the Uranie and Physicienne Corvettes, Commanded by Captain Freycinet . . . . London: Treuttel and Wurtz, Treuttel, Jun. and Richter, 1823. Folding frontispiece map and twenty-five lithographed plates after Arago. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH, in which "Jacques Arago, artist to the scientific expedition headed by Freycinet . . . , wrote the account of the voyage in a very witty and amusing style" (Borba de Moraes). FULL DESCRIPTION > >

TRAVELS IN CHINA
AT THE END OF THE 18^th CENTURY

BARROW, JOHN. TRAVELS IN CHINA, Containing Descriptions, Observations, and Comparisons . . . . London: For T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1804. Six hand-colored aquatints. FIRST EDITION of Barrow's "observations of the country and language" (DNB) of China during the English diplomatic mission at the end of the 18th century. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

CROSSING "THE ROOF OF THE WORLD"

BONVALOT, GABRIEL. THROUGH THE HEART OF ASIA, Over the Pamïr to India. With 250 Illustrations by Albert Pépin. London: Chapman and Hall, Limited, 1889. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of the account by Bonvalot, the French explorer, author and legislator, of his second great journey on horseback into central Asia - in which he crossed "the roof of the world." FULL DESCRIPTION > >

THE FIRST FRENCH CIRCUMNAVIGATION

[BOUGAINVILLE, LOUIS ANTOINE DE.] VOYAGE AUTOUR DU MONDE, PAR LA FRÉGATE DU ROI LA BOUDEUSE ET LA FLÛTE L'ÉTOILE; En 1766, 1767, 1768 & 1769. Paris: Saillant & Nyon, 1771. Eighteen folding maps. FIRST EDITION of Bougainville's account of "the first French expedition to sail around the world" (Cox). FULL DESCRIPTION > >

THE FIRST FRENCH CIRCUMNAVIGATION
- IN ENGLISH

BOUGAINVILLE, LEWIS de. A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD. Performed by Order of His Most Christian Majesty, In the Years 1766, 1767, 1768, and 1769 . . . . London: For J. Nourse and T. Davies, 1772. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Bougainville's account of "the first French expedition to sail around the world" (Cox), translated by John Reinhold Forster, the German-born traveler, naturalist and writer who later accompanied Cook on his second great voyage. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

EARLY VIEWS OF LOUISIANA
AND THE AMERICAN FRONTIER

BRACKENRIDGE, H. M. VIEWS OF LOUISIANA; Together With a Journal of a Voyage Up the Missouri River, in 1811. Pittsburgh: Cramer, Spear and Eichbaum, 1814. FIRST EDITION of Brackenridge's first book, an invaluable first-hand account of early life on the American frontier by "an impartial and careful writer" (Clark, Travels In the Old South). FULL DESCRIPTION > >

BREHM, ALFRED EDMUND. FROM THE NORTH POLE TO EQUATOR. Studies of Wild Life and Scenes in Many Lands . . . . With Eighty-Three Illustrations From Original Drawings. London: Blackie & Son, Limited: 1896. FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

AN EARLY TOUR GUIDE TO THE NILE

BUDGE, E. A. WALLIS. THE NILE. Notes for Travellers in Egypt. London: Thos. Cook & Son; Cairo: Cooks' Tourist Office, 1890. FIRST EDITION of one of the earliest tourist guides to Egypt and the Nile River. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

BUTLER'S SOUTH AFRICAN SKETCHES

BUTLER, H[ENRY]. SOUTH AFRICAN SKETCHES: Illustrative of the Wild Life of a Hunter on the Frontier of the Cape Colony. London: Ackermann and Co., 1841. Thirty lithographed vignettes, sixteen of which are beautifully colored. FIRST EDITION. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

"An early and valuable narrative
of adventures on the Northwest Coast of America, Alaska, and Hawaii
by a common seaman."

CAMPBELL, ARCHIBALD. A VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD, FROM 1806 TO 1812; In Which Japan, Kamschatka, the Aleutian Islands, and the Sandwich Islands, Were Visited. Including a Narrative of the Author's Shipwreck on the Island of Sannack, and His Subsequent Wreck in the Ship's Long Boat . . . . Edinburgh: For Archibald Constable and Company, 1816. FIRST EDITION. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

CHAPELLE, HOWARD IRVING. THE BALTIMORE CLIPPER: ITS ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT. Salem: The Marine Research Society, 1930. Forty-eight full-page ship plans. FIRST EDITION. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

"A GOOD PICTURE OF THE ISLANDS AT THAT TIME."

CHEEVER, HENRY T. LIFE IN THE SANDWICH ISLANDS: or, The Heart of the Pacific, As It Was And Is. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.; Cincinnati: H. W. Derby & Co., 1851. FIRST EDITION, containing one of the earliest engraved views of surfboarding in Hawaii. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

"A GREAT PALESTINE EXPLORER"

CONDER, CLAUDE REIGNIER. TENT WORK IN PALESTINE. A Record of Discovery and Adventure. London: Richard Bentley & Son, 1878. Folding plan of ancient Jerusalem. FIRST EDITION of the first book by "a great Palestine explorer" (DNB), published two years before the official version of his Memoirs was issued by the Palestine Exploration Fund. FULL DESCRIPTION > >

THE "HISTORICALLY MOST IMPORTANT"
OF COOK'S VOYAGES

- Printing and the Mind of Man

COOK, JAMES. A VOYAGE TOWARDS THE SOUTH POLE, AND ROUND THE WORLD. Performed in His Majesty's Ships the Resolution and Adventure, In the Years 1772, 1773, 1774, and 1775. . . . In which is included, Captain Furneaux's Narrative of his Proceedings in the Adventure during the Separation of the Ships. London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1777. FIRST EDITION of "the official account of the second of the three great voyages by Captain James Cook, one of the most illustrious of English navigators" (PMM). FULL DESCRIPTION > >