The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay;

London: John Stockdale,, 1789. A work of primary importance for Australian history First edition of this foundation work on Australia as a European colony, the official account of the voyage of the First Fleet to Botany Bay and the settlement of Australia, based on the governor's journals and despatches; Hill describes it as " a work of primary importance for Australian history". The appended "List of Convicts" - giving names, location and date of convictions, and length of sentence - is the basic source for all First Fleet genealogy. This copy with the early state of the kangaroo plate (spelled as "kangooroo", later changed to "kanguroo"), and mispagination of page 121 as 221, and the vulpine opossum plate in the second state ("vulpine" spelled correctl;y), second state of the title page with Webber's name removed from the vignette. Arthur Phillip (1738-1814) not only commanded the voyage but was holding a commission appointing him representative of the Crown for the eastern half of Australia and the adjoining Pacific islands. "Phillip was given the task of founding a convict settlement in Australia, and became the first governor of New South Wales. Reaching Botany Bay in 1788, via Tenerife, Rio de Janeiro and the Cape of Good Hope, Phillip decided that the site was unsatisfactory and sailed to Port Jackson, where he founded the city named Sydney, after Thomas Townshend, Viscount Sydney, secretary of state." (Hill). As large parts of the coastline were still unexplored, Phillip soon embarked on a voyage of coastal discovery. With three boats he set out to investigate Port Jackson, which Cook had named but had not charted. When Phillip discovered the extent of the Harbour, he was overjoyed: "Here all regret arising from the former disappointments was at once obliterated; and Governor Phillip had the satisfaction to find one of the finest harbours in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line might ride in perfect security." Phillip's discovery of Sydney Harbour was of paramount importance, providing as it did a secure place for settlement. Phillip's journal and that of Hunter, which both contain the first charts of the Harbour based on Hunter's surveys, therefore represent "the foundation stones of any collection of books devoted to coastal discovery" (Wantrup). The account of the voyage is based mainly on Phillip's earliest report to the Government on the Colony, and the reports of other members of the First Fleet. The actual compiler is not known, but he must have had access to the official documents, as it is a very accurate account. The present work is the basic source book, the first in order of importance for the history of Australia and no collection can be complete without a copy. Quarto (281 x 214 mm). Contemporary mottled calf, smooth spine divided by gilt rope-twist and wavy-line rolls, compartments with central gilt foliate motif, gilt edge roll, blind milled roll to turn ins. Stipple-engraved portrait frontispiece of Phillip by William Sherwin after Francis Wheatley, engraved title page with allegorical vignette by Thomas Medland from a medallion by Josiah Wedgwood, 53 copper engraved plates (5 folding, 20 of birds, 10 of animals, 4 of fish, 2 of native people, 1 of plants, 1 of weapons, 5 views, portraits of lieutenants King and Shortland, 8 maps and charts), most with early tissue guards. Binding professionally refurbished, new label to style, internally clean and fresh. A very good, tall copy, with the terminal advertisement leaf. Casey Wood, p. 518; Cox I, p. 314; Ferguson, 47; Hill 1346; Lowndes, p. 1852; Nissen ZBI 3518; Spence p. 57; Wantrup, 5.