A Voyage to New Guinea and the Moluccas, from Balambangan: including An Account of Magindano, Soloo, and other Islands; performed in the Tartar Galley, belonging to the Honourable East India Company, During the Years 1774, 1775, and 1776.

4to [29 x 24.5 cm]; [ii], xxiii, [i, errata], 388, 13, [i, directions] pp, engraved frontis portrait, plus 32 engraved plates, maps and charts including 20 folding. orig full tree calf, rebacked with orig gilt decorated spine, gilt title lettering on orig red spine leather label, wear at corners & spine ends, armorial bookplate of Robert Austen, marbled endpapers, interior clean, crisp & fine with only slight foxing. Taylor 401. Cox i, 301. Hill p. 108: 'Forrest sailed from Balembangan, in the 'Tartar', a native prahu of about ten tons burden, with two English officers and eighteen Malays, towards the Moluccas. He pushed further east than any of his company predecessors, eventually reaching Geelvink Bay in New Guinea. The voyage was one of examination and enquiry . . . the tact with which he conducted his intercourse with the natives, and the amount of work done in a small boat, deservedly won him credit as a navigator'. They explored the Gilolo Passage between New Guinea and the Moluccas, then sailed to Mindanao, examining the Sulu Archipelago, Mandiolo, Batchian and Waygiou, and reaching the Malay peninsula A vocabulary of the Magindano tongue is added at the end of the book. There is much on the native people, their customs, manners, activities. The book is famous for its fine engraved plates and maps.