THE FIRST ACCOUNT OF COOK’S PACIFIC VOYAGES IN SPANISH, INCLUDING MATERIAL ON THE AMERICAS. 4tos, 2 vols. (2), X pp, 262 pp, (2); (2), 288 pp, (2). Bound in contemporary Spanish tree calf with gilt-ruled spines; orange, green, and gilt title labels (“Viages de Cook”); original green silk placeholders preserved in both volumes. Contemporary ownership inscription of José de Martin y Sastre on flyleaves and title-pages. An exceptionally fresh and genuine copy. Rare first Spanish translation of Andrew Kippis’ popular Life of Captain James Cook (first English edition, 1788). Cesareo de Nava Palacio’s translation into Spanish seems to have been firmly directed at the dedicatee, Admiral Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán (1744-1816) who had recently ordered several expeditions into American waters (see below). Cook’s notorious third and last voyage (1776-1780) had explored the Pacific Northwest in great detail before returning to Hawai’i (Owhyhée in this translation), where Cook was killed. Having already appeared in French (1789) and German (1789) translations, the present translation was no doubt spurred by the Spanish expeditions of the 1780s and 1790s around the coasts of both North and South America. The dedicatee, Valdés, had famously directed Córdova’s voyage around the Straits of Magellan as well as Malaspina’s scientific expedition up the west coast of the Americas from Cape Horn to the Gulf of Alaska in the period just after Cook, from 1789-1794. The settlements of Valdez, Alaska (1790) and Valdez, Florida (1787) were named after Antonio Valdés, who rose to become ‘Secretario de Estado del Despacho Universal de Marina e Indias’. Kippis’ work is a much abbreviated digest of all three of Cook’s voyages; the material pertaining to the Pacific Northwest is found in Vol 2, pp. 172-202; but further discussion is given to eg. Cook’s discovery of the linguistic and other similarities between the peoples of Labrador, the Hudson Bay, Greenland, and the Alaskan peninsula in Kippis’ final section (pp. 243-288), which reflects on Cook’s legacy. Cook’s earlier service during the siege of Quebec is noted in the preliminary biography in Vol 1, pp. 1-12; and a brief account of the eastern coast of South American is also given in his first voyage (1768) in Vol 1. Among Cook’s officers on his third voyage were George Vancouver, who would later lead a four-year survey of the northwest coast of America, and Nathaniel Portlock and George Dixon, who would spur the original frenzy for fur-trading expeditions to the Pacific Northwest upon their return to England. Sabin notes the original English edition as well as the 1789 French translation, but fails to mention this Spanish translation. OCLC shows just four US copies at the NYPL, Minnesota, Texas, and the JCB, but we have traced no copies in auction records of the last 50 years. * Sabin X.37, 954 (1788 English original); Beddie 1974; Palau VII.128, 047; this Spanish translation neither in Sabin nor Hill.