George Hamilton, 1793.

HAMILTON, George (fl. 17902). A Voyage Round the World in His Majesty's Frigate Pandora. Berwick: by and for W. Phorson, 1793.

First edition of the only published contemporary report of the expedition in search of the Bounty Mutineers. When William Bligh returned to England in 1790 and news of the events on the Bounty finally became known, the Admiralty immediately fitted out the frigate Pandora, captained by Edward Edwards, to apprehend the mutineers. This account is by the ship's surgeon, George Hamilton; Edwards' own report would not see print until 1915. In Tahiti, Edwards arrested the fourteen mutineers who had stayed behind instead of following Fletcher Christian into hiding on Pitcairn island, keeping them caged in "Pandora's Box" on the quarterdeck as he sailed through the region in search of the rest. In Edwards' singled-minded pursuit of the mutineers, he ignored the distress signal of the crew of La Perouse's lost expedition, dooming them, and sailed close to but did not search Pitcairn island. The Pandora ran aground in the Great Barrier Reef and was wrecked; captain and crew took to the ship's boats with the ten surviving mutineers who had been released from their cage by the master-at-arms (many drowned). After a 1,100-mile voyage in open boats through the Torres Straits they landed at Timor; a ship was arranged for them to carry the mutineers to England where all were tried and three were hanged. Handsome copy. Ferguson 151; Hill 766; Sabin 30011.

Octavo (203 x 125mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece (occasional toning). Modern speckled calf gilt to style, red morocco lettering piece, edges marbled, older endpapers preserved. Provenance: faded ownership inscription on title page, ink library shelfmark on pastedown.