Péron, François and Louis de Freycinet

Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, exécuté par ordre de Sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi, sur les corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste, et la goëlette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, et 1804. [with:] Partie historique ... Atlas par Mm. Lesueur et Petit[–deuxième partie]. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1807[–1816]; 1811



2 text volumes, 4to (11 3/8 x 8 1/2 in.; 288 x 215 mm), 2-part Atlas in one volume, folio (13 7/8 x 10 in.; 352 x 254 mm). Text: half-titles, engraved portrait, 2 folding tables; occasional light marginal spotting, a few quires lightly browned, an occasional rust-spot. Atlas: 2 engraved titles, 40 engraved plates, many handcolored, and 14 maps; some spotting on titles and occasionally in some margins. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt roll-tooled floral border, atlas in antique quarter calf with spine decorated to match; rebacked with original spines laid down. 



With: 
Freycinet, Louis de 
Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes ... navigation et géographie ... (Avec un atlas). Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1812–1815 



1 text volume, 4to (11 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 292 x 215 mm), 1 atlas, large folio (23 1/8 x 17 1/4 in.; 587 x 438 mm). Text: half-title; occasional spots and very light browning. Atlas: engraved title, 32 maps; occasional light spotting in margins or on verso of plates, stamp removed from title. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt roll-tooled floral border, atlas in antique quarter calf with spine decorated to match. Together, 5 volumes uniformly bound.

Michael Sharpe (bookplate)

Ferguson 449, 536, 603; Wantrup 78a–79a; Hill, pp. 229–230

Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes, exécuté par ordre de Sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi, sur les corvettes le Géographe, le Naturaliste, et la goëlette le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, et 1804. [with:] Partie historique ... Atlas par Mm. Lesueur et Petit[–deuxième partie]. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale, 1807[–1816]; 1811 2 text volumes, 4to (11 3/8 x 8 1/2 in.; 288 x 215 mm), 2-part Atlas in one volume, folio (13 7/8 x 10 in.; 352 x 254 mm). Text: half-titles, engraved portrait, 2 folding tables; occasional light marginal spotting, a few quires lightly browned, an occasional rust-spot. Atlas: 2 engraved titles, 40 engraved plates, many handcolored, and 14 maps; some spotting on titles and occasionally in some margins. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt roll-tooled floral border, atlas in antique quarter calf with spine decorated to match; rebacked with original spines laid down. With: Freycinet, Louis de Voyage de Découvertes aux Terres Australes ... navigation et géographie ... (Avec un atlas). Paris: Imprimerie Royale, 1812–1815 1 text volume, 4to (11 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.; 292 x 215 mm), 1 atlas, large folio (23 1/8 x 17 1/4 in.; 587 x 438 mm). Text: half-title; occasional spots and very light browning. Atlas: engraved title, 32 maps; occasional light spotting in margins or on verso of plates, stamp removed from title. Contemporary mottled calf, gilt roll-tooled floral border, atlas in antique quarter calf with spine decorated to match. Together, 5 volumes uniformly bound.
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First editions. 

A handsome set of the complete account of Nicolas Baudin's expedition to Australia with the first detailed and complete map of the Australian continent. Sent by the French government in 1800, with orders to complete the survey of the coasts of Australia, Baudin employed Péron as a naturalist and Freycinet as cartographer.

They reached Van Diemen's Land early in 1802, carried out surveys and then sailed for Sydney. The expedition spent six months in Sydney and offers a useful account of life in that new town. The expedition then engaged in a complete survey of the southern coast before returning to Mauritius where Baudin died at the end of 1803.

Péron died before publication was complete, and the work was finished by Freycinet. While Matthew Flinders had completed his survey of the Australian coast before Baudin, his imprisonment in Mauritius meant that the Frenchmen were the first in print.