PBA Galleries

vii, 310 pp. Two folding engraved maps. 22.5x14 cm (9x5½"), modern half calf & marbled boards, raises spine bands, morocco lettering piece, to edge gilt, others untrimmed. First Edition.

A significant compilation of voyages. As Hill describes, "Burney had originally intended to annex an account of the maritime discoveries of the Russians as a supplement to his 'Chronological History of the Discoveries in the South Sea or Pacific Ocean,' and this book contains the important researches on that subject. The work contains accounts of voyages by the English, Dutch, and Danes in search of the Northeast Passage to Japan and China; the Russian invasion of Kamchatka and discovery of lands in the Arctic seas; various Russian voyages and explorations in eastern Siberia; invasion of the Kurile Islands; description of old Siberian charts; the Aleutian and Fox Islands; Shalauroff's attempts to sail round northeast Asia; Captain Cook on the northwest coast of America and through Bering Strait; Joseph Billings's expedition into the 'Icy Sea,' the Aleutian Islands, and the country of the Tschuktski, etc." Warren Heckrotte commments that "Burney was with Cook so this chapter has a personal flavor to it. Interestingly, Cook and those with them felt that there was probably land to the north of Bering's Strait, based on observations: birds flying to the south, the shallowness of the arctic ocean and the flow ot the currents." The two maps are

• Chart of the North Coast of Asia, and of the Sea to the North of Bering's Strait. 25x42cm
• untitled, region from Lapland to Nova Zembla. 21x27 cm

Provenance: Waverly Auction 9/13/01

References: Howes B 1001. Strathern 80. Hill p 41.Sabin  9386. Cox II, 497.