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Title An epistle from Oberea, Queen of Otaheite, to Joseph Banks, Esq. |
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Published, Date London, printed by J.Almon. 1774. |
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Description Third edition. 4to (21.5 x 26.5cm) 15, [1]pp., very good in modern calf-backed marbled boards in period style, spine gilt in compartments titled with gilt label. |
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Note A verse satire in imitation of Ovid's "Oenone paridi", making sport of the rumoured liaisons of the naturalist Joseph Banks with native women during his stay on Tahiti. Formerly thought to be from the pen of Richard Porson or Gerald Fitzgerald, both works were attributed by Halkett and Laing to John Scott-Waring (1747-1819), formerly Major John Scott of the East India Company and an agent of Warren Hastings. In 1774 Scott was an up-and-coming officer in the Bengal Army who would have had no interest in Banks or Oberea, or in any form of pamphleteering. His few published works, dating from the 1780s, are mainly speeches and letters on military matters or in defence of Warren Hastings, and a publication such as the Epistle would have been quite out of character. His life before 1780 is poorly documented, but none of his biographers mention the Epistle. With regard to the prior attribution to Richard Porson (who would have been only fourteen when the poem was published), Thomas Kidd, in his Tracts and Miscellaneous Criticisms of the late Richard Porson (London 1815) states that 'The Epistle... has been improperly attributed to R.P.; it was written by a late Member of Parliament well known in the walks of wit'. Sadly, Kidd keeps silent about the name of the elusive M.P., but John Selby Watson, in his The Life of Richard Porson (London 1861) has no qualms about identifying the author as the Irish-born politician and lampoonist Sir John Courtenay (1738-1816), adding that 'when Kidd remarked to Porson that Courtney [sic] was the author, Porson made no denial'. (This information kindly supplied by Ray Howgego). "The chief goal of the voyage was to observe the transit of Venus at Tahiti where the Endeavour anchored on 13 April 1769; it remained there for three months ... This lengthy stay gave Banks ample opportunity to study the flora and fauna of the island as well as to observe the character of its human society. He learned Tahitian and was fascinated by points of contrast with English society, being ready on occasions to admit the superiority of some aspects of Tahitian society, and that Europeans could benefit from a knowledge of some of the islanders' practical skills" (ODNB). |
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References Beddie, 3914; Kroepelien, 1165; O'Reilly-Reitman, 9791. ESTC lists only 6 copies: NjP; L; CLU-S/C; ICN; ZWMU; ZWTU. |
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Stock Number 65840 |
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