Sep 28, 2023 - Sale 2646

Sale 2646 - Lot 271

Price Realized: $ 375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 600 - $ 900
(TRAVEL.) Jean-François Galaup, comte de La Pérouse. A Voyage Round the World in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788. 10 maps, 32 plates (many folding). 3 volumes. x, [2], 532; x, 498; vii, 446, 60 pages. 8vo, contemporary calf, rebacked with portions of original backstrip laid down, moderate wear; occasional minor wear to contents; later collector's calling cards on front pastedowns, several inked institutional stamps. London: J. Johnson, 1798
Set Alert for Similar Items

Additional Details

First full English edition. This French scientific expedition attempted to fill in some of the gaps left by the recent Cook expeditions. Most notably, they were the first foreign scientific expedition to explore Alta California, and lost 21 crewmen in a tidal current at "Port de Français" (Lituya Bay) on the southeast Alaskan coast. They also explored Hawaii, the Aleutians, Easter Island, East Asia, and the South Pacific. Their last known stop was at Botany Bay, from which they sent these reports and were never heard from again; their two ships were determined decades later to have wrecked on a reef.

The book first appeared in French in 1797, and two competing English translations appeared with 1798 imprint lines. This Johnson edition was advertised in the London Chronicle on 2 August 1798; the other, by Stockdale, was issued in parts over two years, with its map dated 1800. Forbes 288 (with detailed collation matching this set); Hill 974; Howes L93; Sabin 38963. Provenance: collection of Harlan Nissen; Christie's sale, 12 June 1996, lot 221 (inaccurate collation) to the consignor.