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From the library of Imperator Alexander I

ESMENARD, Joseph-Alphonse.
La navigation, Poème.

Frontispiece and a full page plate illustration of the wreck of La Perouse.

Frontispiece and a full page plate illustration of the wreck of La Perouse.

Frontispiece and a full page plate illustration of the wreck of La Perouse.



Paris, Chez Giguet et Michaud, 1806. 8vo. Red straight-grain morocco, gilt coat of arms of Tsar Alexander in gilt on both covers. Frontispiece and a full page plate illustration of the wreck of La Perouse.

A beautiful copy, from the library of Imperator Alexander I, of the second edition of Joseph-Alphonse Esménard's poem, first published in 1805. Both editions are extremely scarce. (Ferguson notes on the Mitchell Library copy of this edition and the National Library of Australia for the first). The epic poem on voyaging includes a plate showing the still hypothetical wreck of La Pérouse, "Naufrage des Canots de la Pérouse au Port des Français".
Esmenard's poem shows his broad knowledge of the voyages of the eighteenth century. He flows over Bougainville with a reference to Otaïti, l'Édendu nouvel hémisphère, and makes a glancing reference to Malespine, Biron, et Wallis, et Surville, but he reserves most of his attention for 'immortelle' Anson and 'Sage et malheureux'Cook and la Pérouse.
However, these are really presented as an introduction to the enduring legacy of La Pérouse, the relevant canto is, in effect, a lengthy homage to the great French sailor, 'L'hommes, maître du monde, ici perd son empire. La Pérouse arrête où la nature expire'. It is one of the more beautiful examples of the enduring interest in La Pérouse who, by 1805, had been missing for over a decade. Esmenard (1770-1811) writes that the French people, dismayed, still wait and hope for his return, but probably in vain. ('Les peples effrayés ignorent leur destin; La France aux flots émus les redemande in vain'). In fact, both text and image assume that La Pérouse has wrecked on some fatal island.

Good copy.- (Some foxing in the text).
Beddie 3825; Ferguson 427aa; Kroepelien 410; Sabin 22880.

Related Subjects: Armorial Bindings  Bindings  Poetry  Provenance  Russia  Shipwrecks  Travel & Voyages 

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