The mutiny, as Bligh told it
A mid-twentieth-century Honolulu facsimile of William Bligh’s 1792 narrative of HMS Bounty, its mutiny and his survival voyage, after an expedition meant to carry breadfruit plants from the Pacific to the West Indies.
The story
In 1789 part of the crew of HMS Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, rose against their commander, William Bligh, and took the ship. Bligh and the men who stayed loyal to him then had to survive a journey in an open boat, and they did. In 1792 Bligh published his own account of the whole affair: the expedition, the mutiny and the voyage that followed.
That book became a landmark of seafaring and Pacific exploration, with charts, plans and botanical illustrations, and it is the mutiny told by the man it was aimed at. This edition is a facsimile made in Honolulu, reproducing the type and pictures of the first edition published in London by George Nicol, so a reader sees the pages much as the first readers did. The publisher even has Captain Bligh, R.N., announcing the republication of his journal.
The reprint is undated; bibliographers place it about 1967. Its blue cloth, titled in gilt, is lightly rubbed and faded on the spine, and the printed pages and folding maps are in decent order. Whether every foldout is present has not been checked.
Details
- Date
- c. 1967
- Publisher
- Rare Books Ltd., Honolulu, Hawaii
- Edition
- Facsimile of London 1792 George Nicol first edition
- Binding
- cloth: Blue cloth boards with gilt spine title
- Condition
- Blue gilt-titled cloth hardcover with modest rubbing/fading to spine, minimal apparent board wear, printed pages and folding maps in visibly decent condition; no dust jacket shown. Foldout completeness not verified.