"A Learned, Intelligent, and Judicious Traveller"

The publication of a new edition of Johann Reinhold Forster's 'Observations Made During a Voyage Round the World' is certainly a significant event in the history of the book. It was first published in 1778 after Forster and his teenage son returned from their journey aboard the ship Resolution on Captain Cook's second voyage. Its publication marked the beginning of modern geography because it made use of the comparative method to study direct observations made on a trip covering nearly one-fourth of the surface of the earth.