PBA Galleries

[12], c, 420, [12 list of subscribers] pp. 6 engraved plates and 7 engraved maps (5 folding). (4to) 30x23.5 cm (11¾x9¼") early full calf, later rebacking. First Edition.

"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, including Timoe, Mangareva, and Pakarua in the Tuamoto Archipelago; Ongea and Fulanga Islands; Vanua Mbalavu, and Satawal, Lamotrek, Elato, Ifalik, and Woleai atolls in the Western Carolines, before putting in at Macao. A new group of islands, named the Duff Group, was discovered among the Santa Cruz Islands. On the outward voyage, the expedition visited Rio de Janeiro. The narrative is fresh, although sometimes naive, and provides a glimpse of everyday life on the islands that the mariner or naturalist didn't consider worth reporting." -- Hill, 1894.