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A rare and very early account of Captain Cook's first circumnavigation

[MATRA, James (attributed to)].
Supplément au voyage de M. De Bougainville; ou journal d'un voyage autour du monde, fait par MM. Banks & Solander, Anglois, en 1768, 1769, 1770, 1771. Traduit de l'Anglois, par M. De Fréville.







Paris, Le Breton for Saillant & Nyon, 1772. 8vo. Marbled calf, spine gilt in compartments, red edges. [2], XVI, 362, [4] pp.

First French translations of the first printed account of Captain James Cook's first voyage, translated from the English by the scholar Fréville. The English edition had appeared in 1771, nearly two years before Hawkesworth's official account and has been attributed to various authors, James Matra being the most likely candidate.
In 1768, the British Admiralty determined to send a scientific expedition to the Pacific, to observe the passing of Venus across the disk of the sun. Cook took command of the Endeavour, a vessel of 160 tons which was provided by the Admiralty. Amongst the crew were the astronomer Charles Green, the naturalists Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander and the painter Sydney Parkinson.
The crew stayed for a couple of months on Tahiti, not only to observe Venus but also to research the island and its inhabitants. Because of the fact that this account contains an elaborate description of Tahiti, it was considered an addition to the record of the circumnavigation of Louis-Antoine de Bougainville, which also dealt extensively with Tahiti. Moreover, the courses of these two expeditions were almost the same. It was probably for these reasons that the record of Cook's voyage was edited as a supplement to the second edition of Bougainville's travel account, Voyage autour du monde, 2 vols, Paris 1772, although it is a complete book in itself. On pp. 241-249 a vocabulary of the Tahitian language can be found.
The book is concluded by two letters, which are both shortly introduced. The first one, on pp. 253-286, is from M. de Commerson, an expert on natural history who accompanied Bougainville on his journey. He writes M. de la Lande about his findings on Madagascar and other issues. The second one, on pp. 241-249, is from M. le B. de G. to M. de G., and deals with the possibility of a passage from the North Sea to the Atlantic Ocean, and from the South Sea to the Pacific Ocean. These letters do not appear in the English edition.

Fine copy.
Beddie 697; Chadenat, 531; JCB II, p. 1815; not in Hill.

Related Subjects: Cartography  Cook  Voyages 

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