Life of Captain James Cook

1788. KIPPIS, Andrew. The Life of Captain James Cook. London. 1788. xvi,527,[1]pp. Lacks half-title. Frontispiece portrait. Quarto. Modern half calf, spine gilt, and marbled boards. Light old marginal dampstains to prefatory leaves, minor internal foxing. Small closed tears in margins of pp. 55 & 335. Contemporary manuscript notes and an 18th century magazine article relating to Cook bound in rear. HILL 935. HOLMES 69. FORBES 149. BEDDIE 32. LADA-MOCARSKI 40. HOWES K179, "aa." SABIN 37954. O'REILLY & REITMAN 455. KROEPELIEN 647. The first British biography of Cook, providing a well balanced account of his life. The three great voyages are covered in considerable depth, but there is also a good deal of information concerning his career prior to the Pacific voyages, in Canada and at the siege of Quebec, as well as his early and family life. Samwell's narrative of the death of Cook is included. Some have criticized the work for lacking information on Cook's personal life, but that was not a goal of Kippis, who gathered his information from a wide array of sources, including Cook's widow, Sir Joseph Banks, Sir Hugh Palliser, the Earl of Sandwich, and Lord Howe. An important contemporary source on the life of Cook.