Laplace, Cyrill Pierre Theodore

Campagne de circumnavigation de la frégate l'Artémise pendant les années 1837, 1838, 1839 et 1840. Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1841-1854



6 volumes, 8vo (9 ¼ x 5 7/8 in.; 235 x 150 mm, uncut). Half-titles, 41 plates with tissue guards, 2 engraved folding maps; some mostly marginal foxing sometimes heavier on a few leaves, the 4 plates in vol. 6 browned, and a few leaves in other volumes, tear in left margin of India map entering image. Publisher's printed green boards; soiled, head of one backstrip chipped, small tear in one backstrip, a few scuff marks at edges.

Frank S. Streeter (his sale, Christie's NY, 16 April 2007, lot 318)

Hill (2004) 981; Forbes 1298; Sabin 38983

First edition, of this highly detailed account of the second circumnavigation by Laplace, "a voyage of great importance to the consolidation of French commercial and political interests around the globe and particularly in the Pacific" (Hill).

While instructed to protect whaling and other French trade, Laplace also accomplished French political goals. In Tahiti and Hawaii in 1839, he forced each nation to grant freedom of worship to Catholics, allowing the introduction of French priests and wines, and guaranteeing the trial of French nationals by foreign juries. He visited the Russian settlement in California at Bodega, as well as San Francisco and Monterey. Though the voyage was one in a long tradition of French state-supported scientific expeditions, Laplace's own interest in politics, economics, and sociology are reflected in the ample reports on many subjects including surveys of trade in the Indian Ocean, Asia and South America, commentary on the Australian penal system, an analysis of the whaling trade, and records of negotiations with Pacific island rulers.