rare surreptitious account of Cook's Third Voyage

A rare surreptitious account of Cook's Third Voyage which appeared nearly three years before the official version. Zimmermann's narrative is, along with Rickman's, the earliest published account of Cook's final voyage. Originally published in German in 1781, the present edition contains a life of Cook (the first published) and a series of notes not present in the earlier publication. Zimmerman was a self-described lowly seaman and his account provides valuable 'lower-deck impressions of the character of Cook' (Beaglehole III, pccvi), together with 'curious details' (Sir Joseph Banks, cited in Howay's 1930 edition) not in the official account.

The work was suppressed in England and legal action was threatened against Zimmermann, but he went beyond the Admiralty's reach by publishing abroad. No English edition appeared until 1926.

First French edition. 8vo, xvi, 200 pp., fine, uncut in contemporary boards, with contemporary ms label to spine, protected in a scarlet drop-back box, this with red morocco gilt label.

Beddie 1629; Forbes 47; Holmes 44; Kroepelien 1363; cf. Hill 333, and Lada-Mocarski 33, for first (German) edition; not in Sabin.