BLIGH, William (1754-1817). A Voyage to the South Sea ... in his Majesty's Ship The Bounty ... Including an Account of the Mutiny, London, 1792, 4to, 7 plates and charts, contemporary or original paper-backed boards. FIRST EDITION.

BLIGH, William (1754-1817).  A Voyage to the South Sea, Undertaken by Command of His Majesty, for the Purpose of Conveying the Bread-Fruit Tree to the West Indies, in his Majesty's Ship The Bounty, commanded by Lieutenant William Bligh. Including an Account of the Mutiny on Board the said Ship, and the Subsequent Voyage of part of the Crew, in the Ship's Boat, from Tofoa, one of the Friendly Islands, to Timor, a Dutch Settlement in the East Indies. London: Printed for George Nicol, 1792. 4to (317 x 250mm). Oval portrait frontispiece of William Bligh engraved by J. Condé after John Russell, 7 engraved plates and charts, 5 of which folding, with the printed account of the mutiny ("Chap. XIII. A Mutiny in the Ship") commencing at p.154 (frontispiece lightly browned, some heavier staining at upper margins of the first few text leaves and occasionally others, not affecting letters, some mainly marginal spotting and staining, a few darker spots). Contemporary or probably original publisher's paper-backed blue paper boards, uncut and partly unopened (parts torn away from the spine resulting in the loss of most of the old manuscript title, corners rubbed and bumped, some light staining). The plates and charts are titled as follows, with the wording often at variance with the wording on the list, and bound in the following order and not in the same order as the list: 1) "Sections of the Bread Fruit"; 2) "Sketch from recollections and anchor-bearings of the North Part of Otaheite from Point Venus to Taowne Harbour ... by William Bligh", with his facsimile signature (folding); 3) A Copy of the Draught from which the Bounty's Launch was built" (folding); 4) "Chart of Bligh's Islands", incorporating smaller inset "Chart of the Northern Part of the New-Hebrides ..." (folding); 5) "NE Coast of New Holland"; 6) "Track of the Bounty's Launch from Tofoa to Timor" (folding, bound in upside-down); and 7) "Plan & Section of part of the Bounty Armed Transport, shewing the manner of fitting and stowing the Potts, for receiving the Bread-fruit plants" (folding). Provenance: Holbrook Gaskell (19th-century signature on front pastedown). Holbrook Gaskell (1813-1909) was a British industrialist and an art and plant collector. He was the cousin of the Unitarian minister William Gaskell, husband of the eminent novelist Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-65), commonly referred to as "Mrs Gaskell". FIRST EDITION of this account of the first Bounty expedition and the mutiny in its entirety and "... one of the most heroic sea voyages ever made ..." including "...  a slightly revised version of the text of Bligh's narrative of the mutiny, previously published at London in 1790 ..." (Hill). The author's own printed "Advertisement" at the beginning of the book describes how the work took on its present form in order to incorporate the account of the now infamous mutiny: "At the time I published the Narrative of the Mutiny on Board the Bounty, it was my intention that the preceding part of the Voyage should be contained in a separate account. This method I have since been induced to alter ...". Brunet I, 364; Cox II, 305; Du Rietz 93; Ferguson 125; Kroepelien Bibilotheca Polynesiana 93; Hill 135; Mendelssohn II, 7; Sabin 5910; Wantrup 62a.