antiquarian bookseller - Peter Harrington

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15. LA PÉROUSE, Jean
François Galaup de.
Voyage de la Pérouse autour du
Monde, publié conformément au
décret du 22 avril 1791, et rédigé
par M. L. A. Milet-Mureau.
Paris, de l’imprimerie de la République, 1797 [38274]
£15,000
Together 5 volumes, 4 text volumes 4to (295 × 220 mm) and
atlas folio (562 × 438 mm). Uniformly bound in slightly later
French quarter calf on marbled boards, skilfully rebacked with
the original spines, gilt, laid down, atlas volume rebound to
match, lower joint of Volume IV a little cracked. Half-titles in
text volumes. Engraved frontispiece portrait of La Pérouse in
first text volume and 70 engraved plates in the atlas, including
engraved title-page. Light damp stain in the upper right-hand
quadrant of the half-title and frontispiece, scattered very light
foxing, a very good set.
FIRST EDITION. “It is one of the finest narratives of
maritime exploration ever written, and certainly deserves
to hold a place of high honor among the great travel
accounts of the 18th century” (Howell). The atlas volume
contains magnificent maps of Russian Asia, Japan, the
Pacific northwest coast, San Francisco and Monterey.
The most significant results of La Pérouse’s voyage are
the charts of the then imperfectly known Asiatic side
of the Pacific and the details of “the pecularities he
observed in the natives of the northwest coast of North
America, [which] are especially valuable” (Sabin). En
route to Kamchatka, La Pérouse was the first to navigate
safely and chart the Japan Sea and the strait between
the island of Sakhalin and the northernmost island of
Japan, which bears his name. At Kamchatka he received
instructions to proceed to Australia to assess the extent
of British plans in New South Wales. Travelling via Samoa,
where he discovered the islands of Savaii, Manono and
Apolima in December 1787, and through the Tongan
group, he arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788, just
hours after Captain Phillip had arrived with the First Fleet.
La Pérouse’s habit of forwarding despatches whenever
the opportunity offered ensured their survival; the final
despatches were sent from Botany Bay, after which
the expedition was never seen again. Evidence slowly
came to light that both ships were wrecked on the reefs
around the islands northwest of Australia. One crew was
massacred by the local inhabitants. The Astrolabe was
unloaded, taken apart and a two-masted craft built from
its wreckage, which left westward some 9 months later,
its fate unknown. Two men, one a “chief” and the other his
servant, stayed behind, surviving until 1823.
Ferguson 251; Hill p. 173; Sabin 38960; Streeter sale VI:3493.
Superlative
narrative
16. [OLIVER & BOYD]
Voyages, travels, geographies,
histories and biographies: a uniform
collection of 26 works.
Edinburgh, Oliver & Boyd, and Simpkin & Marshall, London, 1831–
44 [32939] £3850
26 works in 38 volumes, 8vo. Uniformly bound in
contemporary calf, green morocco labels, spine compartments
with geometrical borders in gilt and blind, sprinkled edges.
Engraved vignette additional titles, many works with folding
maps. Rubbed in places, a little spotting and very occasional
stripping to boards, two spine labels lacking, a few others
chipped, contents clean, an excellent set.
An excellent collection of uniformly-bound works on
voyages and travels, together with some related and
ancillary subjects, published by the Edinburgh educational
publishers Oliver and Boyd, the majority of them in first
edition. The individuals works, in date order, are:
Catalogue 57: Travel Section 1 ~ World Voyages and Compilations
RUSSELL, Michael. Palestine, or the Holy Land, 1831;
— View of ancient and modern Egypt, 1831;
MACGILLIVRAY, W. The travels and researches of
Alexander von Humboldt, 1832;
TYTLER, Patrick Fraser. Historical view of the progress of
discovery on the more northern coasts of America, 1832;
CRICHTON, Andrew. History of Arabia, 2 vols., 1833;
RUSSELL, Michael. Nubia and Abyssinia, 1833;
FRASER, James Baillie. An historical and descriptive
account of Persia, 2nd ed., 1834;
MACGILLIVRAY, W. Lives of eminent zoologists, from
Aristotle to Linnaeus, 1834;
LESLIE, Sir John, Robert Jameson, & Hugh Murray.
Narrative of discovery and adventure in the polar seas
and regions, 1835;
RUSSELL, Michael. History and present condition of the
Barbary states, 1835;
MURRAY, Hugh, & others. An historical and descriptive
account of China, 2nd ed., 3 vols., 1836;
[ANON] An historical account of the circumnavigation of
the globe, 2nd ed., 1837;
[—] Lives and voyages of Drake, Cavendish, and
Dampier, 1837;
TYTLER, Patrick Fraser. Life of King Henry the Eighth, 1837;
CRICHTON, Andrew, & Henry Wheaton. Scandinavia,
ancient and modern, 2 vols., 1838;
MURRAY, Hugh. An historical and descriptive account of
British America, 3 vols., 1839;
[ANON] A historical and descriptive account of Iceland,
Greenland, and the Faroe Islands, 1840;
MURRAY, Hugh, & James Wilson. Narrative of discovery
and adventure in Africa, 3rd ed., 1840;
MURRAY, Hugh, & others. Historical and descriptive
account of British India, 3rd ed., 3 vols., 1840;
TYTLER, Patrick Fraser. Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, 3rd ed.,
1840;
SPALDING, William. Italy and the Italian Islands, 3 vols., 1841;
FRASER, James Baillie. Mesopotamia and Assyria, 1842;
RUSSELL, Michael. Polynesia, 1842;
[ANON] Voyages round the world from the death of
Captain Cook to the present time, 1843;
MURRAY, Hugh. The Travels of Marco Polo, 1844;
— The United States of America, 3 vols., 1844.
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