The very scarce first edition in German of Flinders's great voyage account, the official narrative of his classic voyage of discovery in the Investigator, the first circumnavigation of Australia. As Rodney Davidson points out, "the German edition is of particular interest as its accompanying map shows for the first time, in varying colours, the parts of the coast discovered by the English, the Dutch and the French. However, one error on the map should be noted: it attributes the discovery of the north area of Kangaroo Island to the French and the south to the English whereas the reverse is true". As it happens, the copy offered here was Rodney Davidson's.

The very scarce first edition in German of Flinders's great voyage account, the official narrative of his classic voyage of discovery in the Investigator, the first circumnavigation of Australia. As Rodney Davidson points out, "the German edition is of particular interest as its accompanying map shows for the first time, in varying colours, the parts of the coast discovered by the English, the Dutch and the French. However, one error on the map should be noted: it attributes the discovery of the north area of Kangaroo Island to the French and the south to the English whereas the reverse is true". As it happens, the copy offered here was Rodney Davidson's.

The text was translated from the English by Ferdinand Götze, who adds a brief preface and some explanatory footnotes; the appendices and two nautical/technical chapters that appeared in the original English edition are omitted. Flinders' work was of great interest to its German audience, then and now. Henze notes that "Seine Karten übertreffen die Cookschen an Reichhaltigkeit und Präzision und waren für einige Gebiete noch während des Zweiten Weltkriegs in Gebrauch. Sein Reisewerk steht in der Entdeckungsgeschickte des fünften Kontinents nach Form und Inhalt ohne Gegenstück da" ["His maps surpass even those of Cook in their richness and accuracy, and continued in use for some areas even during the Second World War. His chief significance for the literature of discovery is in his exploration of the fifth continent, unparalleled in its scope and skilful execution"].

Although separately issued this was also published as the sixth volume in the series 'Neue Bibliothek der wichtigsten Reisebeschreibungen': in that form it would contain a series title, not present here in this undisturbed volume.