La Pérouse, Jean-François de Galaup, comte de

Voyage de La Pérouse autour du monde, publié conformément au décret du 22 avril 1791, et rédigé par M. L. A. Milet-Mureau. Paris: Imprimerie de la République, An V (1797)



4 text volumes, 4to (12 1/8 x 9 1/8 in.; 308 x 232 mm, uncut and partially unopened) on pale blue paper, 1 plate volume, folio (22 1/4 x 16 3/4 in.; 515 x 425 mm). Half-title, engraved portrait in first volume,engraved title in atlas, 31 engraved maps (of which 20 folding), 38 engraved plates in atlas volume; clean marginal tear in vol. 2, p. 184 without loss, small mended tear in engraved title. Contemporary blue marbled boards, printed title labels on spines, in a blue quarter-leather slipcase; rubbed, somewhat obscuring printed title labels.

Sabin 38960; Hill 972; Streeter Sale VI, 3493

First edition of the official account of the voyages of the Astrolabe and the Boussole under the command of La Pérouse, charged with the exploration of regions neglected by Captain Cook and the American west coast. The first French expedition to visit Alaska, La Pérouse also visited Easter Island, Chile, Hawaii, Macao, Formosa, Samoa, Tonga and Australia. In a 1788 expedition from Botany Bay, La Pérouse was lost at sea, and nothing was discovered of his fate until 1827 when his shipwrecks were discovered in Melanesia. His mapping of the Alaskan and California coasts is particularly fine.