Malaspina, Alejandro. VIAGE POLITICO-CIENTIFICO ALREDEDOR DEL MUNDO por las Corbetas Descubierta y Atrevida al Mando de los Capitanes de Navio D. Alejandro Malaspina y Don Jose De Bustamante y Guerra Desde 1789 a 1794. Madrid: La Viuda E Hijos De Abienzo, 1885. 2nd edition. Identical to the first of the same year. Folio. [8] + xxxxii + 682pp + [6]. Half-title, index. Engraved frontispiece portrait, 6 engraved plates, folding map. Printed wrappers, spine re-backed, slightly soiled covers, otherwise very good to fine copy of a fragile book.
This is the official account of the scientific expedition of Malaspina and Bustamante y Guerra of 1789 to 1794, which made extensive explorations of the California and Northwest coasts. This account, edited from Malaspina's papers by Novo y Colson, appeared nearly a century after the expedition, and is now considered,"Spain's greatest scientific voyage of exploration to the South Seas in the eighteenth century, and is considered by some to be "as great as those of La Pérouse and Captain Cook."
