Voyage de Dentrecasteaux, envoyé à la Recherche de La Pérouse…
Voyage de Dentrecasteaux, envoyé à la Recherche de La Pérouse. Publié par ordre de sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi… Rédigé par M. de Rossel, ancienne capitaine de vaisseau.

Paris: de l'Imprimerie Imperiale, [1807-] 1808.

Two volumes, quarto, with 32 folding engraved plates in volume I, and an Atlas, imperial folio, containing 39 charts and maps (29 double folding); original mottled boards, entirely uncut and with very generous margins; an outstanding copy in its original binding, boxed.

The commander's account of the voyage in search of La Perouse

First edition: a superb coy in its original binding of the official commander's account of the search for La Pérouse, published posthumously. The twelve magnificent maps of Western Australia and Tasmania in the fine Atlas record much of these coasts accurately for the first time and are among the most significant ever made. Of prime importance to Tasmania, it was d'Entrecasteaux's explorations of 1792 and 1793 which focused attention on the Derwent River area (now Hobart) as a suitable place for settlement.

First edition: a superb coy in its original binding of the official commander's account of the search for La Pérouse, published posthumously. The twelve magnificent maps of Western Australia and Tasmania in the fine Atlas record much of these coasts accurately for the first time and are among the most significant ever made. Of prime importance to Tasmania, it was d'Entrecasteaux's explorations of 1792 and 1793 which focused attention on the Derwent River area (now Hobart) as a suitable place for settlement.

No news of La Pérouse had been received for several years by the time this voyage was equipped. It was the 1791 intervention of Delattre and the Société d'Histoire Naturelle which finally forced the hand of the National Assembly and led to d'Entrecasteaux's appointment. As a result, d'Entrecasteaux was given command of the Recherche and the Espérance, and sent to the Pacific the same year. No trace of La Pérouse was found, although the expedition sailed close by Vanikoro where it is possible that La Pérouse expedition survivors may have remained even at that time.

The voyage did however have other purposes, their official orders having specified that they take scientists and artists and that they explore the coasts of Western Australia, Tasmania and the Gulf of Carpentaria, as well as New Caledonia, the Solomons, and north-east New Guinea. They did indeed make substantial geographical and scientific discoveries, particularly in Tasmania and along the west and southwest coasts of Australia – during the stop at Recherche Bay alone in mid-1792 they collected some 5000 botanical specimens and at the end of the year they headed for south-western New Holland discovering Esperance Bay. They also made important visits to New Caledonia, Tonga and the Santa Cruz Islands.

The expedition was marred by illness, and d'Entrecasteaux himself was one of many to die during the voyage. The late stages of the Revolution in France meant that while Labillardiere's account could be published in 1800, that of d'Entrecasteaux had to wait until well into the Napoleonic Empire.

This is an excellent copy of a very scarce voyage account, of great relevance to Australia and the Pacific; the Atlas volume is in its correct first edition form, with the charts all present in their original issues. Copies are sometimes found with later issues.

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Provenance: Private collection New South Wales

Davidson, 'A Book Collector's Notes', pp. 104-5; Ferguson, 461; Hill, 467; McLaren, 'Lapérouse in the Pacific', 49; Wantrup, 64a-64b.

Condition Report: Fine.

Ref: #5000498

Condition Report