FIRST SWEDISH TRANSLATION OF JOHN WHITES'S VOYAGE TO AUSTRALIA

ÖDMANN, SAMUEL. (+) [JOHN WHITE] (+) [JOHN HYNES] (+) [GEORGE CARTER].

John Whites Resa till Nya Holland, Åren 1787 och 1788. [i.e. Swedish: "Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales"] (+) Berättelse om ängelska skeppets Grosvenors strandning på Africas östra kust, samt besättningens vandring genom landets inre öknar till capska nybygget, år 1782. Från tyskan, förkortad. [i.e. Swedish "A Narrative of the Loss of the Grosvenor East Indiaman, Which was unfortunately wrecked upon the coast of Caffraria, somewhere between the 27th and 32d Degrees of Southern latitude, on the 4th of August, 1782."].

Upsala, J. Edmans Enka, 1793 &1794. 8vo. In contemporary paper covered boards with red leather title-label with gilt lettering to spine. Spine cracked, otherwise a fine and clean copy. XII, 147, (1), (7), 86, (1) pp.

First Swedish translations (abbreviated) of these two important travel accounts.
[John Whites Resa:] John Whites, principal naval surgeon for the voyage of the First Fleet to Australia. In 1788 White was appointed Surgeon-General of New South Wales [Nya Holland] and organized a hospital for the new colony, somewhat hampered by a lack of medical supplies. He became interested in the native flora and fauna of the new land and investigated the potential of Australian plants for use as medicine. He observed the olfactory qualities of eucalyptus and distilled eucalyptus oil in 1788.

[Berättelse om ängelska skeppets Grosvenors:] "The ill-fated vessel sailed from "Trincomale" on the 13th of June 1782, and struck on the coast of Kaffraria a few weeks after. The passengers agreed to accompany Captain Coxon in an attempt to reach the Dutch settlements in the Cape..., One by one, however, the doomed sufferers succumbed or were left behind, and when, after 117 days of fearful hardships, a remote Dutch farm was reached, only six men arrived out of a whole ship's company" (Mendelssohn I, p.651);

The works were translated by Samuel Ödmann (1750-1829) who also translated works by James Cook, Pierre Sonnerat and Carsten Niebuhr.

Order-nr.: 55315