Voyages et Aventures de Laperouse…

Tours: Mame, 1839.

Small octavo, engraved title, frontispiece and two other plates; an attractive copy in an early dark roan prize binding embossed in blind and gilt.

La Pérouse condensed for children

Attractive copy of the rare first edition of this early children's book relating the voyages and adventures of La Pérouse. The three plates and the vignette on the engraved title-page are by Gouget, and are striking examples of reducing the essential details of larger format scenes to this smaller size. The frontispiece shows the infamous loss of the cutter in the tidal current at the Port des Français (now Lituya Bay, Alaska), the second plate shows the French officers being greeted by the Spanish missionaries of Monterey, and the third is a graphic scene of the death of Captain Langle and eleven sailors at the Samoan island Maouna. The vignette shows the monument to La Pérouse that was erected on Vanikoro by Dumont d'Urville in 1828.

Attractive copy of the rare first edition of this early children's book relating the voyages and adventures of La Pérouse. The three plates and the vignette on the engraved title-page are by Gouget, and are striking examples of reducing the essential details of larger format scenes to this smaller size. The frontispiece shows the infamous loss of the cutter in the tidal current at the Port des Français (now Lituya Bay, Alaska), the second plate shows the French officers being greeted by the Spanish missionaries of Monterey, and the third is a graphic scene of the death of Captain Langle and eleven sailors at the Samoan island Maouna. The vignette shows the monument to La Pérouse that was erected on Vanikoro by Dumont d'Urville in 1828.

Ferguson initially recorded only an 1844 edition of this work (see 3931), but copies of this scarce first edition are now known in the Mitchell Library and the National Library of Australia. However, while later editions appear to be reasonably common, this genuine first is scarce.

Ferguson, 3931 (1844 edition); not in Forbes.

Condition Report: A little foxing, bookplates removed from endpapers.

Ref: #4108618

Condition Report