TOUR du MONDE - Track of the schooner yacht Lancashire Witch - Lot 179

TOUR du MONDE - Track of the schooner yacht Lancashire Witch on her voyage around the World. An in plano album in period green half-maroquin with corners, gilt brass clasp, title in gilt lettering on the first cover (qq rubs). This unique album was compiled during the round-the-world cruise of the Lancaschire Witch, a splendid schooner built in 1878 by R. Steel Co in Greenock, Scotland. No other trace of this adventure is known, apart from a few logbooks, often incomplete, and a set of 22 watercolors also done during this voyage, by the only Frenchman on board, Francis FRANCIS, private secretary and confidant of the owner, Sir T. HESKETH. Francis published his account of the voyage in two volumes ("War, Waves and Wanderings: A Cruise in the "Lancashire Witch") in 1881. Thomas Hesketh, British yachtsman and owner of the schooner Lancashire Witch, is best known for having completed one of the very first circumnavigations of the globe aboard a private yacht, the journey of which our album retraces in photographs. He set off from Liverpool in 1878 on a long round-the-world voyage that lasted over two years, from 1878 to 1881. Considered a pioneer of ocean-going yachting, Hesketh showed that a private yacht could circumnavigate the globe, and thus contributed to the development of British ocean yachting. The exceptional album we present, the only complete record of this voyage, was probably compiled by Francis FRANCIS. It contains a large double-page watercolor handwritten map showing the voyage's itinerary. It is followed by a large menu of a lunch on board; two watercolors showing the ship and its various flags; and 242 original photographs on albumen paper, in various formats (sometimes quite large). Most of these photos were probably taken by Francis, but other photographers such as H. Harnoux, A. Beato, J.H. Lartigue, A.S. Briquet, J. Garrigues and W.H. Bradley-Rolofson were also involved, having met them during stopovers such as Natal, Madagascar, Johana, Zanzibar, Formosa, the Seychelles, Singapore, Siam, Japan, Alaska, the African continent...photos showing the ship, numerous personalities taking part in the voyage, views of the countries visited, picturesque or typical characters from the countries visited, including a fine set of Zulu men and women, very fine photos taken in Japan, interesting shots taken in Singapore, Bangkok, a very fine set of shots of characters from the Pacific Islands (Tahiti, Sandwich Islands), North African types: Morocco, Tunisia (snake charmer, water carrier, singer, Arab women with flour mill, markets, carpet makers, Bedouin women's camp, méhariste, Jewish girl, Kroumire woman, Arab camp ....), a fine set on Egypt, etc... plus qq documents (press clippings...). 24 photographs have not been mounted in the album and are therefore "flying", including an exceptional photograph showing the yacht's crew taken at the San Francisco stopover in 1878; a photograph taken at the same stopover showing a group of people taking part in the voyage; a photograph of Sir Thomas Hesketh (1879). All in very good condition. This unique photographic album of the round-the-world voyage of the Shooner Yacht Lancashire between 1878 and 1881 is a major rediscovery in the history of 19th-century round-the-world navigation. Provenance: Sothebys sale December 2007.