[Travel & Exploration]. Bligh, William (1754-1817). A Narrative of the Mutiny, on board His Majesty's Ship Bounty; 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: for George Nicol, 1790.

Large 4to (318 x 248 mm). Folding frontispiece, 3 maps (2 folding, 2 printed on blue paper). (Light spotting to plates, offsetting to text from plates, small marginal repair to frontispiece, marginal tear not affecting image of last plate.) ORIGINAL BOARDS, UNCUT (rebacked to style, soiling and wear to covers); folding chemise and morocco-backed slipcase. Provenance: early inscription poem on last leaf of text: "In Danger's School both He and Bligh were taught, and from brave Cook their noble firmness caught; In naval annals all their names shall shine, and british Heroes boast of Deeds divine!"; English newspaper clipping tipped to same page titled "The Mutineers of the Bounty," ca 10 October 1808.

FIRST EDITION of Captain Bligh's own account of the mutiny against him. When Fletcher Christian forced Bligh and eighteen loyal men to cast off in the ship's launch, Bligh famously navigated over 4,000 miles of open water armed only with a compass, a quadrant, and a chronometer. This voyage of 45 days proceeded through Fiji, up the Australian coast, and through the Torres Straits to Timor, and many parts of the unknown north-east coast of New Holland were charted and named. Although Bligh returned in 1790 to face court-martial proceedings, he was acquitted along with others. Promoted to commander, he made a second attempt to transport bread-fruit trees from the Pacific to the Atlantic. Ferguson I, 71; Hill 132.

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