- 56
[Brosses, Charles de]
Estimate
3,000 - 4,000 GBP
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Description
- Histoire des navigations aux terres australes. Paris: Durand, 1756
- paper
First edition, 4to (241 x 186mm.), 7 folding engraved maps, contemporary mottled calf gilt, spine gilt in compartments, lettered in 2, red morocco labels, red edges, [Hill, p.34; Nordenskiöld 353; Sabin 8388]
Provenance
Marquis de Corbeau de la Vaulserre, of Savoy and Dauphiné, engraved bookplate
Catalogue Note
Brosses's compilation of previously scattered and fragmented references to the southern continent makes it "an extremely important and thorough collection of voyages, and one of the outstanding works relating to the early history of Australia" (Hill). It influenced among others Bougainville, Dalrymple and Cook (who had a copy on board the Endeavour). Brosses advocated French settlement and was the inspiration and basis of Callander's Terra australis cognita, which expressed the same ideas, but from a British viewpoint.