The full textual narrative of Dumont d'Urville's great first voyage, one of the most important of the French "grands voyages" to the Pacific. A complete set of the total publication of the voyage runs to 18 volumes of various sizes, dealing with the scientific results and mapping, and with copious quantities of maps and lithograph plates (527 of the latter, all full-page plates in massive atlas folio volumes); but as the full account of the progress of the voyage these five text volumes form the core of the publication.

The full textual narrative of Dumont d'Urville's great first voyage, one of the most important of the French "grands voyages" to the Pacific. A complete set of the total publication of the voyage runs to 18 volumes of various sizes, dealing with the scientific results and mapping, and with copious quantities of maps and lithograph plates (527 of the latter, all full-page plates in massive atlas folio volumes); but as the full account of the progress of the voyage these five text volumes form the core of the publication.

The Astrolabe (Duperrey's old ship the Coquille, renamed in honour of La Pérouse) sailed from Toulon in April 1826. Dumont d'Urville was instructed to explore the principal island groups in the South Pacific, completing the work of the Duperrey voyage, on which the commander himself had been a naturalist. Because of his great interest in natural history, huge amounts of scientific data and specimens were collected. The expedition stopped at the Cape of Good Hope, passed through Bass Strait visiting Port Phillip, and arrived at Sydney on 1 December 1828. Both Sydney and Parramatta (where Dumont d'Urville visited Samuel Marsden) are extensively described, as is Port Phillip. The expedition sailed for New Zealand in January 1827, explored Tasman Bay, found a pass between an island in Cook Strait and the northern shore of South Island (the island consequently named D'Urville and the strait French Strait) and worked up the coast of North Island, completing the 'most comprehensive exploration of the islands since Cook's death'. They made Tonga in April 1827, explored the Fiji Archipelago, New Britain, and New Guinea. In November, after a stop at Amboina, they coasted along the north-west coast of Australia and reached Tasmania. In 1828 they continued to Vanikoro in search of traces of La Pérouse, and stopped at Guam in the Marianas, before returning via the Cape of Good Hope, reaching Marseille on 25 March 1829.