LA PEROUSE | Voyage... autour du monde. 1797, 5 volumes

LA PEROUSE, JEAN FRANCOIS GALAUP DE

Voyage… autour du monde. Paris: De l’Imprimerie de la République, 1797

FIRST EDITION, 5 volumes (4 of text and an atlas), 4to (290 x 215mm.) and folio (575 x 425mm.), half-titles, text with engraved portrait frontispiece, atlas with engraved allegorical title and 69 engraved plates and maps, many double-page, text bound in contemporary half sheep, the atlas rebound more recently to match, plate 38 slightly browned

After the disappointment of Kerguelen's failure, this expedition was the looked-for success in answer to the voyages of Captain Cook, and the first to be published on the grand scale that came to characterize the results of the major French expeditions. La Pérouse's instructions were to explore those regions not covered by Cook, to seek out an interoceanic passage, make scientific observations, and obtain reliable information on the fur trade and the extent of the Spanish settlements in California. The expedition visited Easter Island, Hawaii, Macao, Formosa, the Aleutian Islands, Samoa, Tonga and Australia. La Pérouse sent his dispatches back to France from Kamchatka and Botany Bay, but after departing from Botany Bay the expedition was never heard from again. Although a search party was sent out under the command of Entrecasteaux, it was not until 39 years later, that the wrecks were found in Vanikoro. Some copies have the portrait in both the text volume and atlas, though here, as seemingly often, it is just present in the text volume.

LITERATURE:

Borba de Moraes p.449; Ferguson 251; Hill (2004) 972; Sabin 38960