Extremely rare first edition book: A Narrative of the Life, Travels, and Sufferings of Thomas W. Smith: Comprising an account of his early life, adoption by the gipsys; his travels during eighteen voyages to various parts of the world, during which he was five times shipwrecked; thrice on a desolate island near the South Pole, once on the coast of England, and once on the coast of Africa. Boston: Wm. C. Hill, 1844. Hardcover bound in full brown calf, 4.5 x 7.25, 240 pages. Book condition: VG-/None, with toning and soiling to extremities of the textblock, rubbing and scuffing to boards, and a near contemporary ownership signature to first free end page.
A compelling autobiography published in 1844, this book details Smith's adventurous and often harrowing experiences as a sailor, traveler, and survivor of numerous hardships. The work describes seven whaling voyages to the Pacific, sealing in the Falklands, South Georgia and Antarctic South Shetland Islands from 1816 to 1820, and his eventual arrival in New Bedford on an American whaling ship. Bibliographer Michael H. Rosove notes: 'Smith's visit to the South Shetland Islands about the Schooner Hetty…during the austral summer of 1820 took place only a year after the islands' discovery: Smith's narrative constitutes the earliest known—and for that matter one of the only—published accounts of sealing activities there.' His narrative provides a vivid account of maritime life in the 19th century, capturing both the allure and dangers of seafaring.
