Layout A - Royoung Bookseller

Rare Books 15
PACIFIC VOYAGE THAT NEVER HAPPENED
15. [BUCKINGHAM, James Silk.] Mr. Buckingham, M.P. will visit Yarmouth on Friday, the
27 th day of May, to deliver on that and the following evening, two popular lectures, descriptive
of his voyages and travels, by sea and land, with illustrations of scriptural history,
scenery, manners, customs, monuments and prophecies, drawn from actual observation on
the spot. These lectures will be delivered in the town hall …
[Yarmouth, c.1830.] Broadside. Small folio (20 x 25.5cm) small tear at head touching one letter, tipped onto old backing
sheet with newspaper cuttings related to Buckingham pasted onto foot of backing sheet, very good. [TOGETHER
WITH]
[BUCKINGHAM, James Silk.] Subscribers to a public fund for effecting a voyage round the
globe, by the route of India, China, Japan, and the Pacific Isles, for the purposes of discovery,-
civilization,- and commerce,- combined. To be performed under the direction and
command of J.S.Buckingham …
[London, 1830.] Printed prospectus. 8vo (13.5 x 16.5cm) 8pp., unbound as issued, old folds, very good. [TOGETHER
WITH]
[BUCKINGHAM, James Silk.] Mr. Buckingham’s voyage round the globe.
[London, 1831.] Printed circular letter. 4to (20 x 24.5cm) 2pp., with [1] page autograph letter signed by Buckingham
penned on second leaf, old folds, light wear and a few tiny holes, verso of second leaf with address panel: “J. Warwick
Athenaeum”, small marginal repair touching a few words of letter from seal opening, light dusting.
A rare prospectus for a Pacific voyage proposed by the traveller James Silk Buckingham (1786-1855) is offered
here together with a printed circular letter relating to the same voyage and also a broadside advertising a lecture
given by Buckingham in Great Yarmouth “descriptive of his voyages and travels by sea and land”. The eight page
prospectus explains his plans for the voyage in an attempt to interest subscribers: “the present period seems
peculiarly favourable for such an undertaking; inasmuch as the shores and islands of the Eastern hemisphere, in
the space lying between China and South America, including the coasts of Corea, Formosa, Japan, Borneo,
Celebes, the Moluccas, the Philippines, the Kurile Archipelago, and the countless islands in the Pacific ocean,
are the parts of the globe least accurately known in every sense; and these are now likely soon to become as
accessible to English ships, as they have for a long time been to foreign vessels only”. Buckingham framed the
aims of the exhibition as “the collection of general information regarding the East … the extension of the sale
of British manufactures … the discovery of new articles of commercial return”. Had it gone ahead it would have
put him in Japan before Commodore Perry. The circular letter, relating to the same voyage, explains
Buckingham’s scheme for the appointing of his crew in considerable detail, with “nautical appointments” and
“scientific appointments” listed with salaries and also the number of subscribers that those applying must procure
before being considered for positions. When these arrangements are considered it is perhaps not surprising
that the voyage did not take place as Buckingham’s intention to profit financially and through the intellectual
property accrued on any explorative voyage may have put off both subscribers and suitable crew members.
I. Not in OCLC. II. 1 copy in OCLC (National Library of Australia). III. Not in OCLC. £1450