CASSINI, Giovanni.
L’ Isola O-Taiti Scoperta del Cap. Cook con le Marchesa di Mendoza.
Rome, Presso la Calcografia Camerale, 1798.
Engraved map, 370 x 420 mm. (plate size), attractive original handcolouring; a little wear, and some watermarking, but a handsome and well-preserved copy.
Cassini's beautiful map of Tahiti, perhaps the most significant port in Cook's explorations in the Pacific. Tahiti had a profound effect on Cook's understanding of the region and became an impromptu base for each of his three voyages. The map, as with all of Cassini's charts, is clearly derived from the originals in the official voyage accounts.
The largest of the Windward Society Islands, Tahiti was first charted by Samuel Wallis in 1767, and it was due to his recommendation that it was selected by the Royal Society as an appropriate place to observe the transit of Venus. Relations between Cook and the islanders were friendly during his extended stay of some three months, and both of his successive voyages would be marked by lengthy visits: in all, Cook spent almost six months in the Society Islands over the course of his three voyages.
As a result of the visits of Cook, Wallis, and Bougainville, Tahiti became the centre of European speculation about the "Noble Savage" and the idyllic Pacific, as well as the symbol of a growing anxiety about influence on the region.
