by Captain Nathaniel Portlock
First edition of the famous expedition narrative
London: Printed for John Stockdale, opposite Burlington-House, Piccadilly; and George Goulding, James Street, Covent Garden, 1789. First edition of Captain Nathaniel Portlock's account of his North American expedition. xii, 384, xl pp., laid paper with wide margins. Complete with 20 copper engraved plates, of which 6 are foldout maps and charts. Quarto, bound in full period-style tree calf with decorative gold tooling to spine and edges, marbled endpapers, black topstain; fore and lower edges stained yellow.
Near Fine with a few scuffs to leather and light toning and scattered light foxing to contents. Light offsetting from plates, minimal bleed into margins from yellow edgestain. Penciled checkmarks to illustration list, 1/8 inch hole to plate "A Basket & Idol of Sandwich Islands," 2-1/4 inch repaired tear to margin of pp. 107/108 (not affecting text), and light staining to upper right margin of p. 375. Plate folds crisp and pages bright; fine binding by master bookbinder Richard Smart strong and sound.
In May 1785 Nathaniel Portlock was appointed by the newly-formed King George's Sound Company to lead a fur-trading expedition to the north-west coast of North America. Portlock commanded the King George and George Dixon the Queen Charlotte, both men having been selected because they had accompanied Captain Cook on his third Pacific voyage and were seasoned world travelers.
The two ships reached Cook Inlet in Alaska in July 1786, then wintered in the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands and returned to Alaska in April 1787. They sailed for China the following winter and sold their furs for a vast sum before returning to England, loaded with tea for the East India Company. The voyage was a success, as Portlock states in final pages of his account:
"From this plain statement of facts, the public may at once perceive that this branch of commerce, so far from being a losing one, is perhaps the most profitable and lucrative employ that the enterprising merchant can profitably engage in.”
A Voyage Round the World is a lively and highly readable account written in the style of ship’s log. It records sickness and accidents, points of interest, and flora and fauna. The inhabitants of Alaska and the Sandwich Islands (including Russian settlers) are vividly described, and one of the engravings is a classical portrait of a Hawaiian man named Tyaana. There is a transcript of a Court of Inquiry in the aftermath of mutiny aboard the ship Belvidere as she lay at Singapore, and a 40-page appendix at rear contains tables of the routes of the King George and Queen Charlotte.
The elegantly printed book is dedicated, with permission and with "unalterable gratitude and profound submission,” to King George III. The monarch sponsored Captain Cook’s voyages of discovery, and Portlock heaps praise upon him:
"English seamen have always been celebrated for their bravery: your Majesty has, by those voyages, made them more skilful. They have ever been adventurous, but your Majesty has, by this wise policy, made them more safe.”
In the end, the otter pelt trade wasn’t profitable enough for King George's Sound Company (which soon merged with another) to continue sending ships, and Portlock rejoined the royal navy. His narrative is a valuable primary source in the history of British navigation and the colonization of North America. Howes P497.