First French edition. Large folding engraved map, with paper repairs. 8vo. Fine contemporary (or slightly later) quarter calf, half title, title, & first leaf of prelims. repaired without loss, some unobtrusive water damage to bottom right corner of text pages from p.114 to end, otherwise a very fine copy. xix, 546pp. Amsterdam, 1777.
Described by the elder Forster as an abortion (of course it pre-empted his account of the voyage) this account was probably edited by David Henry who also edited the Gentleman's Magazine, another of Newbery's publications. Marra, who confessed to being the author of the work, was flogged twice on the voyage on both occasions for insolence to an officer. Nevertheless he appears to have been something of a favourite with Cook who dealt with him most leniently when the Irishman made repeated attempts to desert the ship at Tahiti. To his short account of these events and some sympathetic remarks on Marra's history and character Cook, suprisingly, adds the following comment "I know not if he might not have obtained my consent if he had applied for it in the proper time". Hill, p.60; Sabin, 16247; Holmes, 16.
