MARINER, William & MARTIN, John (éd.) - Lot 112

MARINER, William & MARTIN, John (éd.) Voyage aux Îles des Amis situées dans l'océan Pacifique, fait dans les années 1805 à 1810, avec l'histoire des habitans depuis leur découverte par le capitaine Cook. Paris, printed by J. Smith for the bookshop of Gide fils, 1819. 2 volumes in-8 (215 x 140 mm) of 398 pp. 1 f.n.ch. of bookseller's catalog for volume I; 398 pp. for volume II. Paperback, mustard cover, printed title pieces (publisher's binding), modern slipcase and folder. See Hill, 1075; Forbes, 468; Reissue of the original French translation edition under this new title, first published the year of the English original in 1817 as Histoire des naturels des Îles Tonga. This is an important account of the Tonga Islands by the Englishman William Charles Mariner (1791-1853), who lived in Tonga for four years. As a young sailor, Mariner sailed aboard the privateer Porte au Prince to the New World with the objective of attacking Spanish ships and searching for whales. After seizing several Spanish ships, several Hawaiians joined the crew in 1806. Their visit to the Tonga Islands was fatal: almost the entire crew was massacred by the natives (ironically, James Cook had nicknamed Tonga the "Friendly Islands"). The author, however, survived and lived there from about 1806 to 1810, observing and recording Tongan culture with a keen eye for detail. The second volume includes interesting notes on James Cook, who, with his crew, received a friendly welcome there. We have not been able to find any trace of this title in specialized bibliographies. A very good copy, entirely untrimmed. A modern Robinson Crusoe