Captain Cook's Florilegium:

This is a rare or used book from the Berkelouw Rare Books Department.

A selection of engravings from the drawings of plants collected by Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander on Captain Cook's first voyage to the islands of the Pacific, with accounts of the voyage by Wilfred Blunt and of the botanical explorations and prints by William T. Stearn. London: Lion and Unicorn Press, 1973. Elephant folio, bound (by Zaehnsdorf of London) in original quarter black Nigerian goatskin with matching fore-edges over black Japanese silk paper, and with gilt title to front cover. With 30 stunning engraved full-page plates, each with its original tissue-guard and descriptive letterpress text printed in various coloured inks. The title-page is heightened in gold. Limited edition of 100 numbered copies only, each being fully subscribed. This is copy no. 43 and the original subscriber is noted as Henry Sotheran Ltd. for Stanley Smith Esq. A list of the 100 subscribers is loosely inserted. Bookplate of David Bremer to front free endpaper. A fine copy preserved in its original solander case (flecked). To which is added: Joy Law's Note on the production of the above magnificent work. Published by the Lion and Unicorn Press in 1976, in a limited edition of 175 numbered copies, of which this is no. 42. Small quarto, bound in original quarter oasis with gilt title to front cover. (32pp.). With illustrations, 3 of which are tipped-in. Total 2 vols. The stated purpose of Captain Cook's momentous first voyage round the world on board His Majesty's Ship Endeavour (1768-1771) was to witness the transit of Venus (which was due to take place on 3 June 1769) from a suitable position in the South Pacific, in order that the distance between the Earth and the Sun might be calculated. The unstated purpose was of course to search for the great southern continent, long supposed to exist in the Southern Ocean. Cook successfully witnessed the transit from Tahiti and he surveyed and took possession of the east coast of Australia, which he named New South Wales, in the name of George III, though he did not succeed in discovering the postulated southern continent. On board was also the self-funded Joseph Banks (1743-1820), an amateur botanist of only twenty-five, as well as his scientific party, including fellow botanist Daniel Solander (1733-1782), and botanical artist Sydney Parkinson. As noted by Stearn in his account of the botanical explorations, Banks and Solander returned with herbarium specimens comprising some 110 new genera and 1300 new species; Parkinson's sketches, in turn, served as the basis for almost 1000 illustrations. Captain Cook's Florilegium is important from a botanical, historical, and indeed from an artistic perspective. It truly does "demonstrate qualities of design and workmanship in keeping with the golden age of fine illustrated flower books.