Among the passengers on the Adventure was the Tahitian native Omai. Cook brought him back to England, and for two years, he was a popular figure in English society. He was a source of the image of the “noble savage.” He returned to Tahiti with Cook on his third voyage, and died there a few years later. Item 43 is a 1774 engraving of a full-length portrait of Omai painted by Nathaniel Dance. $14,000.
Omai's fate was learned by Captain William Bligh on a visit to Tahiti to gather breadfruit trees in 1789. So began one of the most extraordinary journeys, even by the standards of these times. Bligh and the loyal members of his crew were put off their ship, the Bounty, after the famous mutiny. Bligh then engineered a remarkable journey on the longboat onto which they were thrust. Somehow, he managed to guide it safely over 3,500 miles of ocean to rescue in Batavia. When he finally made it back to England, Bligh immediately released a condensed account of his trip to establish his innocence in the mutiny. Two years later, in 1792, with more time to write, he released this expanded account of the terrible events, A Voyage to the South Sea. Item 4. $19,800.
What could be a worse journey than that of Bligh? Try the one described in Narrative of the Most Extraordinary and Distressing Shipwreck of the Whale Ship Essex. This is an account by Owen Chase, one of the few survivors, published in 1821. The Essex ran into, quite literally, an angry whale, or perhaps we should say the whale ran into the Essex. Maybe it somehow knew what whalers were up to, because the large beast sunk the ship. Eighteen survivors set out to sea, a 2,000 mile journey of horror. They suffered starvation, madness, and finally were forced into cannibalism. Only six made it back alive. It was this tale that inspired Herman Melville to write Moby Dick. Item 12. $18,900.
For a look at how the other half lives, or looks, there is Anthropometamorphosis: man transform'd, by John Bulwer. This is a look at body decoration and mutilation as supposedly performed by various natives of distant lands. It ranges from curious to grotesque to clearly exaggerated, as the at times fantastic illustrations reveal. Interestingly, some of the body piercing and tattooing revealed in this 1653 book has recently come back in fashion. Item 9. $18,900.
You may reach Hordern House at +61 (02) 9356 4411 or rare@hordern.com. Their website is found at www.hordern.com.
