Discoveries in Australia; with an account of the Coasts and Rivers explored and surveyed during the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, in the years 1837-38-39-40-41-42-43... Also a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's visits to the islands in the Arafura Sea by STOKES, John Lort - 1846

London: T. and W. Boone, 1846. Two volumes, octavo, with 26 engraved plates (including frontispieces) and eight folding charts (6 loose and 2 tipped in, as usual), some occasional light spotting in the margins of plates but generally a good untrimmed set, all of the many advertising pages and slips noted by Wantrup present as per first issue; modern blue calf.

First edition, and a major work of Australian voyaging and exploration, often considered the last major voyage of Australian discovery. This work recounts the third and final circumnavigation of HMS Beagle, dispatched by the Admiralty to complete the mapping of the remote coasts of New Holland, in particular the north-west coast and the Torres Strait.

The work was written by John Lort Stokes, who joined the Beagle in 1824 and served on all three circumnavigations, working up from a midshipman to be the final commander, a position he was given in Sydney in 1841. He had been the companion, that is, of everyone from Darwin to Phillip Parker King, and was easily the longest-serving officer on the famous ship.

Discoveries in Australia recounts the third voyage of HMS Beagle from 1837 to 1843 under Wickham and Stokes, when the ship was in Australian waters. "Stokes is noted as an engaging, vivacious and entertaining writer. As the official account of the last major expedition of Australian discovery, his book is essential to a collection relating to coastal voyages. It is also of considerable interest to collectors of inland exploration journals, since Stokes and the crew of the Beagle undertook many expeditions inland from the coast which are recorded in his book. It is a scarce book and is eagerly sought by collectors..." (Wantrup).

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