A very scarce elegy for Cook, published in Paris, which shows the high regard in which Cook was held in Enlightenment France, as both navigator and scientist. Blanc-Gilli explicitly claims that Cook was as widely respected in France as in England, 'a statement which is borne out by the fact that the centenary of his death was celebrated in Paris but not in London' (Holmes). The elegy is a glowing narrative of Cook's life and voyages enriched with a 24-page appendix (including notes on other voyagers to the South Seas, Cook's importance to the history of astronomy, and references to contemporary philosophers such as Rousseau).

A very scarce elegy for Cook, published in Paris, which shows the high regard in which Cook was held in Enlightenment France, as both navigator and scientist. Blanc-Gilli explicitly claims that Cook was as widely respected in France as in England, 'a statement which is borne out by the fact that the centenary of his death was celebrated in Paris but not in London' (Holmes). The elegy is a glowing narrative of Cook's life and voyages enriched with a 24-page appendix (including notes on other voyagers to the South Seas, Cook's importance to the history of astronomy, and references to contemporary philosophers such as Rousseau).

Mathieu Blanc Gilli, a resident of Marseille, was a politically active writer who served briefly in the Legislative Assembly before falling foul of rivals during the French Revolution and retiring to an obscure provincial post. He published on a wide range of reforms, including an abolitionist pamphlet critical of the plantation system in Santo Domingo.

Forbes could locate only the copies in the Mitchell Library and three American libraries (including Sir Maurice Holmes' copy at UCLA).