BOUGAINVILLE, Hyacinthe-Yves-Philippe POTENTIEN, Baron de.
Journal de la navigation autour du globe de la frégate la Thétis et de la corvette l'Espérance pendant les années 1824, 1825 et 1826.
Paris, Impr. De Rignoux for Arthus Bertrand, 1837. 2 text volumes (4to) and 1 atlas volume (folio: 545 x 350 mm). With 34 full-page lithographed views and costume plates, 12 hand-coloured, full-page engraved plates, a double-page, hand-coloured aquatint, 7 engraved maps (1 folding, 6 double-page), 2 double-page plates, and few steel-engraved illustrations in the text. Later three-quarter red morocco. VIII, 742; XVI, 351, 165, [3] pp.
€ 45,000
First and only edition of a richly illustrated work on the French circumnavigation of the world under command of Baron de Bougainville (1781-1846), son of the great explorer Louis de Bougainville. The goal of the voyage was to extend France's influence in Indochina. However, Bougainville also visited Pondicherry, Manila, Macao, Surabaya, Sydney, Port Jackson, Valparaiso and Rio de Janeiro. He brought back a collection of natural history specimens from his expedition, which was described as one of the most precious and important that had been seen in France.
After distinguished service in the Napoleonic Wars, Bougainville was promoted to post-captain and given command of the Thétis. She was only the second French frigate to be commissioned for a circumnavigation, the first having been his father's vessel, the Boudeuse. The voyage took twenty-eight months and the official account was published after a delay of some eleven years. The major purpose of the expedition was political and strategic, and Bougainville's first report of 1826 gave the French government a survey of colonial possessions in Asia and of the military strength of Manila, as well as accounts of Singapore, the Australian colonies, and Spanish America. Bougainville's advice was taken into account in the development of French strategy and diplomacy in the Pacific during the 19th century. He also spent several months in and around Sydney, where he collected considerable ornithological material. This ultimately resulted in three drawings by Bessa of four species of birds, including superb illustrations of the male and female Gang-gang, or red-crested parrot.
The text contains an account of the voyage. The gorgeously coloured engraved plates show plants and animals, including a curious case of Siamese twins, a bat, an Australian kangaroo, a chameleon, a "Gymnodactile Phyllure", a fine plate with butterflies, and two plates of indigenous plants. The double-page maps of places visited include two double-page plates with views of the coast-lines of the Maldives and the Philippines, a folding double-page map of the world, showing the routes of De Bougainville's voyage, as well as the route his father took in 1766-1769, and a beautiful hand-coloured plate with sailing ships and rowing boats in use in the Chinese Sea and Indian Ocean by China, Manilla, the Dutch East-Indies and Japan. The lithographed plates show views and costumes of India, the Philippines, China, Cambodia, Java, Sidney and elsewhere in Australia, Chile, Rio de la Plata and Brazil.
Bound with the original wrappers. The edges and corners of the boards are slightly scuffed, the boards are very slightly rubbed. The text volumes are very lightly foxed throughout, the atlas is somewhat browned and foxed throughout. Otherwise in very good condition. Borba de Moraes, p. 115; Bosch 416; Chadenat 26; Ferguson 2236; Hill 162; Howgego, 1800-1850, B50; Nissen, ZBI 483; Rodrigues 440; Sabin 6875.
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