Who was the author of this exceedingly rare and curious volume? Could it have been Fletcher Christian himself? Might James Morrison, boatswain's mate on the Bounty or William Wordsworth, poet and boyhood acquaintance of Christian, have been involved with the book's publication? Could Fletcher have escaped death on Pitcairn and travelled to South America? Certainly the Bounty's chronometer was found by an old muleteer in Concepcion, Chile. Or might the infamous mutineer have returned in secret to England? His fellow shipmate, Peter Heywood was convinced he spotted him in a Plymouth side street in 1808.

All these and other possibilities are discussed, and a summary of Christian's life is recorded, in Stephen Walter's comprehensive Introduction to the Genesis fine limited edition: The Letters of Fletcher Christian.