First edition of Anson's Voyage, one of the great publishing successes of the eighteenth century; few copies have survived in such good condition. The narrative, based on Anson's own journal, had an enormous popular success: for the mid-eighteenth-century reader, it was the epitome of adventure, and it was translated into several European languages and stayed in print through numerous editions for many years. Published almost midway between the voyages of Dampier and Cook it is a benchmark of British ambitions in the Pacific at mid-century.

First edition of Anson's Voyage, one of the great publishing successes of the eighteenth century; few copies have survived in such good condition. The narrative, based on Anson's own journal, had an enormous popular success: for the mid-eighteenth-century reader, it was the epitome of adventure, and it was translated into several European languages and stayed in print through numerous editions for many years. Published almost midway between the voyages of Dampier and Cook it is a benchmark of British ambitions in the Pacific at mid-century.

"Anson's voyage of 1740-44 holds a unique and terrible place in British maritime history. The misadventures of this attempt by Royal Navy ships to sail round the world make a dramatic story of hardship, disaster, mutiny and endurance… [When] Anson reached the coast of China in November 1742 he was left with one ship and a handful of men, some of whom had 'turned mad and idiots'.

"The most extraordinary part of the voyage was still to come, for despite his losses Anson was determined to seize the treasure galleon that made the annual voyage from Acapulco to Manila. Laden with Peruvian silver, she was the 'Prize of all the Oceans'. In June 1743 Anson intercepted the Nuestra Señora de Covadonga, and in a 90-minute action forced her surrender. After refitting at Canton he returned home the next year to find himself compared with Drake, and his exploits with the long-remembered feats of arms against the Spain of Philip II.

"The casualties were forgotten as the public celebrated a rare triumph in a drab and interminable war…, and in 1748 the long-awaited authorised account appeared under the name of Richard Walter, chaplain on the Centurion, and became a best-seller. Walter's volume has formed the basis of all accounts of Anson's voyage from the mid-eighteenth century to the present. The book, more fully illustrated than any similar work up to that time, was both a stirring story of adventure at sea and an exhortation to further Pacific enterprise" (Glyn Williams, The prize of all the oceans. The triumph and tragedy of Anson's voyage round the world, 1999).

For the long-standing dispute over authorship see Williams, op.cit., appendix I: Williams concludes that Walter may have commenced the work and saw it through the press, but Benjamin Robins, a talented and versatile mathematician and an experienced writer, was primarily responsible for its literary quality. There is, however, no doubt that Anson closely scrutinised the text and in everything except stylistic terms the narrative is Anson's own interpretation of events.