Publisher's Synopsis
The first in a seven-volume edition recounting Captain Cook's three voyages around the world, first published in this edition in 1821. John Hawkesworth (1715-73), an English writer, literary critic and book editor, was commissioned by the Admiralty to edit Captain Cook's papers relative to his first voyage, together with those of Joseph Banks, and the resulting three-volume work first appeared in 1773. Widespread criticism in the press made its publication a personal disaster for Hawkesworth and was believed to have hastened his death. Reviewers complained that it was impossible to tell which part of the account was attributable to Cook, which to Banks and which to Hawkesworth himself, whilst others were offfended by the descriptions of the voyagers' sexual encounters with the Tahitians. Cook was at sea again when the book was published but was later much disturbed by some of the sentiments Hawkesworth had ascribed to him and determined to edit his own journals in future. With six illustrations, including a portrait of Cook and map of his voyage.
