Description
Octavo (210 x 135mm), [xii], 325pp. Contemporary half calf, marbled boards, raised bands, gilt title on spine. Rubbed boards, edges. Light dampstain on front half title and free endpapers. Marbled endpapers. The present American edition proceeds the London edition, entitled Memoirs of the Life and Travels of John Ledyard, published the same year. (Sabin 88991)
Comments: Ledyard was an American born Marine, who served onboard the Resolution on Cook’s Third Voyage. His rare Journal of Captain Cook’s Last Voyage was published in Hartford, Ct, in 1783 and was the only eyewitness account of Cook’s death. He was later arrested in Siberia by the order of the Russian Empress, who thought him a French spy. Later in life he explored the “Dark Continent” of Africa, where he disappeared in 1789.
