[Hawaii; Pacific Ocean]. LOTTER (Tobias Conrad). Map of the - Lot 284

[Hawaii; Pacific Ocean]. LOTTER (Tobias Conrad). Map of the Pacific Ocean north of the equator [...]. Augsburg, Tobias Conrad Lotter, 1781. 1 copper-engraved map, 51 x 56 cm (sheet), hand-colored (very slight soiling in side margins). One of the first engraved maps to depict Hawaii. A rare map of the North Pacific encompassing the coasts of Asia and America, it traces the routes of the third voyage of Captain Cook (1778), Charles Clerke and the Spanish galleons. To the south, Hawaii appears as the Sandwich Islands, with a note specifying that this was the place of Captain Cook's death. This event was the catalyst for the publication of this map. By evoking the visit of a European ship to the island, this work illustrates a key moment in the exploration of the Americas and the Pacific. According to the text at the bottom of the map, it is based on a map published in the Gentleman's Magazine in December 1780, and was part of an account of Cook's third voyage published in 1781. This is probably John Rickman's Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage.