Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
Travel, Atlases, Maps and Natural History
Auction Closed
November 12, 04:34 PM GMT
Estimate
6,000 - 8,000 GBP
Lot Details
Description
CHAPPE D'AUTEROCHE, JEAN
Voyage en Sibérie. Paris: Debure, 1768
FIRST EDITION, 4 volumes (including atlas), comprising: text: volumes 1-2 bound in 3 (volume 1 is in 2 parts), engraved frontispiece in volume 1, 56 engraved plates and plans (some double-page), unnumbered engraved table; atlas: engraved frontispiece and 30 folding maps, plans and profiles, text and atlas uniformly bound, 4to (334 x 247mm.), contemporary tree calf, spines gilt, lacking half-titles, minor spotting, slightly rubbed, rebacked retaining original spines
Jean Chappe d'Auteroche (1722-1769) was a French priest and astronomer who was sent to Siberia by Louis XIV in 1761 to observe the Transit of Venus. This work is celebrated for its observations on the peoples, botany and minerals of the region, and particularly for its engravings, which vividly bring the text to life. The third volume, which contains d'Auteroche's translation (into French) of Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov's description Kamchatka from the 1755 Russian edition, includes a great deal of material, textual and illustrative, on Alaska, the northwest coast of America, and the fur trade.
Jean Chappe d'Auteroche (1722-1769) was a French priest and astronomer who was sent to Siberia by Louis XIV in 1761 to observe the Transit of Venus. This work is celebrated for its observations on the peoples, botany and minerals of the region, and particularly for its engravings, which vividly bring the text to life. The third volume, which contains d'Auteroche's translation (into French) of Stepan Petrovich Krasheninnikov's description Kamchatka from the 1755 Russian edition, includes a great deal of material, textual and illustrative, on Alaska, the northwest coast of America, and the fur trade.
LITERATURE:
Hill (2004) 277; cf. Lada-Morcarski 12
PROVENANCE:
Baron Dimsdale, armorial bookplate