Intriguing letter which shows the workings of the inner circle of French grands voyages experts and veterans, explicitly thanking Bory de Saint-Vincent for the important work he had done on the scientific volumes published after the Duperrey voyage (1822-1825), and therefore granting him access to the latest volumes relating to the Dumont d'Urville voyage (1826-1829) as they are published.

Intriguing letter which shows the workings of the inner circle of French grands voyages experts and veterans, explicitly thanking Bory de Saint-Vincent for the important work he had done on the scientific volumes published after the Duperrey voyage (1822-1825), and therefore granting him access to the latest volumes relating to the Dumont d'Urville voyage (1826-1829) as they are published.

Bory de Saint-Vincent, who had sailed with Baudin in 1800 and published an important account of his difficult time aboard and his researches in the Indian Ocean, had a long and interesting career as a scientist, and had indeed in 1828 – as this letter suggests – helped prepare the botanical volume published as part of the official account of the Duperrey circumnavigation.

His work was greatly appreciated by the ministry, which is why d'Haussez, then minister of the navy, was able to grant Bory de Saint-Vincent access to all of the volumes relating to the Dumont d'Urville voyage that had been published to date. D'Haussez is granting the request, he writes, not only as a mark of thanks, but as a way of encouraging the scientist to perhaps publish an account of his own recent expedition to the Mediterranean (Bory de Saint-Vincent was the director of a scientific expedition to the Peloponnese, the so-called "Expédition de Morée" of 1828-1833).