A very detailed illustrated history of the grands voyages for children, including La Pérouse and the third voyage of James Cook with an apparently original version of the "Death of Cook". The second last chapter of the book has a sketch of the natives of New South Wales based on the account of Dumont d'Urville, who visited Australia in 1827. Hombron actually sailed with Dumont d'Urville as surgeon and naturalist on his voyage to the Antarctic.

A very detailed illustrated history of the grands voyages for children, including La Pérouse and the third voyage of James Cook with an apparently original version of the "Death of Cook". The second last chapter of the book has a sketch of the natives of New South Wales based on the account of Dumont d'Urville, who visited Australia in 1827. Hombron actually sailed with Dumont d'Urville as surgeon and naturalist on his voyage to the Antarctic.

This compendious work details the history of voyaging and, as commonly, gravitates towards tales of wreck and ruin. As might be expected in a French work, there is a great deal on La Pérouse, including sections on his battles in Hudson Bay, his stay at Monterey in California, and his death at Vanikoro. Also present are chapters on, to name but a few, Alexander Selkirk marooned on Juan Fernandez, Bougainville's visit to Tahiti, and the discovery of New Zealand.

This work is not often seen, although Ferguson was able to locate a handful of copies for his Appendix. Not all copies have some of the illustrations in colour as Ferguson seems to imply. This copy has the ticket of the Paris binder Lenègre.