First Swedish edition of Bligh's Voyage to the South Seas.

First Swedish edition of Bligh's Voyage to the South Seas.

Rolf du Rietz's excellent note in the catalogue of the Kroepelien catalogue explains that this very rare version was anonymously translated by Carl Fr. Landell from Georg Forster's German edition of the Bligh account, and includes Forster's introduction. As with the German edition on which it is based, this book only includes the new material from the 1792 Voyage: that is, none of the Narrative section is included here, and a footnote explains that Ödmann's Swedish translation of that part should be thought of as the "second volume", so-called. This explains, in passing, the otherwise rather cryptic "Förrste Delen" ("first part") noted on the title-page here. Such a publishing arrangement had been Bligh's original intention for the English edition, but he considered that some sections of the Narrative should be revised for republication.

Ferguson noted only the Mitchell copy and another in the Kroepelien collection.+