Estimated Price:

AUD10,000 - AUD15,000

Realized Price:

AUD14,400 ($10,746)

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SARAH SOPHIA BANKS'S COPY OF THE RARE FIRST EDITION OF PARKINSON [COOK, CAPTAIN JAMES] PARKINSON, SYDNEY

A JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS, IN HIS MAJESTY'S SHIP, THE ENDEAVOUR. London, for Stanfield Parkinson, 1773.
Imperial quarto; engraved frontispiece portrait, engraved map and 27 plates, errata leaf at end, wide margins; fine contemporary tree calf, covers with gilt key pattern borders, finely rebacked, with gilt urn-with-laurel tool in five compartments, gilt-lettered red morocco label.
FIRST EDITION; THE RARE SUPPRESSED EDITION. SARAH SOPHIA BANKS'S COPY with her signature dated 1778. Sarah Banks, Sir Joseph Banks's only sister, shared many of his interests and was of great assistance to him in copying his notes and journals. She formed a large collection of natural history objects, coins and books, many of which were later presented by Sir Joseph Banks to the British Museum.
Sydney Parkinson was engaged by Banks as the natural history artist for Cook's first voyage. His untimely death on the return journey resulted in a dispute over his drawings, journals and collections between his brother Stanfield and Sir Joseph. From these papers and drawings, Stanfield Parkinson hurriedly published this Journal to pre-empt Hawkesworth's official account. 'After a few copies had appeared, the further issue was stopped by an injunction in Chancery, in the ground of infringment of Hawkesworth's rights and of material belonging to Banks' (Beddie, p. 135).
In the Preface to this suppressed First Edition, Stanfield accused Banks of being unfair to his brother Sydney, further inflaming the dispute. Dr Fothergill, a friend of the Parkinsons, who had attempted to act as an intermediary between Banks and Stanfield, for his trouble also found himself maligned in the Preface. To defend his own and Banks's reputation, Fothergill then printed and circulated his 'Explanatory Remarks on the Preface' which was later bound into the second edition published in 1784.
Together with a copy in the British Museum, the present copy is one of the rare suppressed 1773 First Editions with these 'Explanatory Remarks' also bound in. Holmes says: 'There can be no doubt that Fothergill did not wait for eleven years before printing his defence. In one of the copies of the first edition in the British Museum presented on November 21st, 1777, Fothergill's "Explanatory Remarks on the Preface" are bound in. Their printing must therefore have taken place some time between 1773 and 1777, though it was not until 1784 that they reached a wider public' (Holmes, p. 54).
It is not surprising that Sarah Banks made sure that Fothergill's defense of her brother was bound with her copy of Parkinson, which she dated 1778. In summary, this fine copy is highly significant, being a rare suppressed First Edition with the separately published 'Explanatory Remarks' also bound in, and for its poignant association with Sir Joseph Banks.