Stamp, Cordelia. 
Concerning Cook.
Caedmon of Whitby.
2003.
ISBN 0 905355 58 X.

A delightful 24 page booklet from an author who has come up with yet another good idea.

Cordelia Stamp is to be congratulated on producing a booklet that gathers together the known portraits of Captain Cook, plus some alleged ones of him. Thus we have the portrait by Nathaniel Dance, the two by John Webber, the one discovered in Ireland by William Hodges (though Cordelia thinks not) and the portrait in the Royal Geographical Society's headquarters alleged to be of Cook [See Cook's Log, page 1858, vol. 24, no. 3 (2000)].

Also featured are portraits of the main artists who sailed with Cook: Sydney Parkinson, William Hodges and John Webber, along with descriptions of their lives and comments on their work. Others appearing include Joseph Banks, the Forsters and Charles Clerke.

It is a pity that the illustrations are in black-and-white but colour would have made the enterprise expensive. 

Ian Boreham

Originally published in Cook's Log, page 7, volume 26, number 3 (2003).