An Account of the Pelew Islands,: situated in the Western Part of the Pacific Ocean. Composed from the Journals and Communications of Captain Henry Wilson, and some of his Officers, who, in August 1783, were there shipwrecked, in the Antelope, a Packet belonging to the Honourable East Ind

London: Printed for Captain Wilson; and sold by G. Nicol,, 1789. First octavo edition, the fourth overall, of one of the most popular shipwreck narratives of all times. With this edition the publisher aimed to make Keate's Account available to those who could not afford the previous quarto versions: the text was reproduced verbatim, and the famous portrait of Prince Lee Boo, sketched by Keate's daughter, was re-engraved. In 1783, the Antelope, commanded by Captain Henry Wilson, was wrecked on a reef near one of the Palau Islands, a group previously unexplored by Western forces. The entire crew managed to get safely ashore, where they were well treated by the island's inhabitants and eventually managed to build a small vessel from the wreck, in which they reached Macao. "They took Prince Lee Boo, one of King Abba Thulle's sons, with them to England, where he made a very good impression. Unhappily, in spite of all precautions, he soon died of smallpox" (ODNB). The present account "was extremely popular and in 1788 and 1789 four editions were printed in London" (Hill). Included in the account is a vocabulary of the Palauan language. George Keate (1729-1797) was a writer and painter whose "interests respectively in natural history and in antiquarian studies led to his being elected to fellowships of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries, both in 1766. Although Keate is now remembered, if at all, as a minor artist, this seems a somewhat harsh judgement on one whose wide-ranging intellectual curiosity about literary, artistic, and scientific fields was genuine and deeply committed" (ODNB). Two of the three portraits are by Henry Kingsbury after Arthur William Devis, son of Arthur Devis, who accompanied Wilson as draughtsman on the Antelope. Octavo (209 x 129 mm). Contemporary calf, flat spine with black oxidized gilt rules and lettering, gilt decoration to board edges. Engraved portrait frontispiece of Wilson by James Heath after John Russell, portrait of Prince Lee Boo by Thomas Kirk, large folding map. Short splits to joints at ends but holding, a few cosmetic repairs to boards, corners worn, light foxing to a couple of final leaves, small stain to lower outer corner of one leaf with traces of adhesion (no loss of text), small repair to verso of folding map, otherwise bright and clean contents. A very good copy. See Hill 907, Huntress 107C.