BYRON, John (1723-1786). The Narrative of the Honourable John Byron. London, 1768. FIRST EDITION.
8vo (212 x 133 mm). Engraved frontispiece. Contemporary vellum, black calf label gilt (upper hinge tightened, lacking front free endpaper). Provenance: Joseph Smith (bookplate); George Slater, Arkham Parsonage (bookplate). FIRST EDITION. Byron was a midshipman aboard the Wager, one of Anson's fleet, who remained with Captain Cheap after the mutiny led by Bulkeley and Cummins (see lot 27). The survivors were tended by the local indigenous population, before being discovered by the Spanish. "This narrative supplied Byron's grandson, the poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), with many particulars for the shipwreck in Canto II of Don Juan" (Hill). "One of the most thrilling accounts in the language" (Sabin). Hill 232; Sabin 9730.
