WEBBER, James [but John] (1750?-1793).
Views in the South Seas, from drawings by the late James Webber, draftsman on board the Resolution, Captain James Cooke, from the year 1776 to 1780.
London: Boydell and Co., & W. Bulmer and Co., 1808.

Comparable: Christie's, 2007 - $66,000.

Provenance: with Dorothy Sloan, 14th February, 2007, lot 125 - $47,000.

Folio (20 1/2" x 16 3/4"). 16 hand-colored aquatint plates after Webber on Whatman paper (plate one with short repaired tear at the sheet edge. Contemporary crimson morocco backed marbled boards; modern green cloth clamshell box.

Later issue, with the plates bearing later watermarks, but a fine set of these important and early views depicting scenes encountered while employed as draughtsman on Cook's third voyage. On his return Webber was appointed by the Admiralty to supervise the production of engravings that were made from his originals to illustrate the official account of 1784, these 12 plates were first published separately by Webber between August 1788 and August 1792, and Boydell first reissued the plates in their present form, with an additional four plates and with descriptive text in 1808, fifteen years after Webber's death. Copies with varying watermark dates are known, but Abbey does not distinguish them as separate editions, nor do other bibliographers: "The title page is dated 1808 in all copies, but the plate imprints are dated April, 1809, and the water mark dates vary widely copy by copy, apparently a feature peculiar to Boydell's color plate books" (Hill). Abbey "Travel" 595; Tooley 501; Hill p.611; Mitchell Library "Cook" 1872; Holmes79.