JOURNALS OF CAPTAIN JAMES COOK. Edited by J. C. Beaglehole.
Volume I, The Voyage of the Endeavour, 1768-1771. (C.U.P., for the Hakluyt Society, 80s.) With a Portfolio of Charts and Views.
THE publication of this edition of Cook's journal of his first voyage marks the appear- ance of the first part of a great enterprise : the Publication in four volumes, under the auspices of the Hakluyt Society, of a full and correct edition, with all relevant material, of the three voyages. On the evidence of this volume, it promises to be a monument to Corn- olonwealth scholarship, for the work is in the hands of Dr. J. C. Beaglehole, of New Zealand, assisted by Mr. R. A. Skelton and Dr. J. A. Williamson, of this country, and by his fellow New Zealander, Professor J. W. Davidson, and the text of the first volume is based mainly on the Canberra MS. of the Journal.
The textual introduction, and the notes to the text, are models — exact, balanced and comprehensive. But, admirable as is the edit- ing, the outstanding feature of this first volume Is Dr. Beag,lehole's general introduction, which in some 150 pages provides a remark- able guide not only to Cook's achievement but to the whole history of Pacific exploration from the later Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. This is indeed an historical survey of the first quality. When the edition is safely completed, perhaps the Hakluyt Society would Pot us further in its debt by reprinting the in- troduction as a separate publication.
JOHN EHRMAN
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