Beschreibung:

DUMONT D'URVILLE, Jules Sébastien César, le Comte (1790-1842). Voyage de la Corvette l'Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829 . Paris: J. Tastu, 1830-1833. Extremely rare and desirable set of the first edition of Dumont d'Urville's voyage in the Astrolabe . This important voyage was one in a great series undertaken by the French government in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for scientific and political purposes. Led by Jules Dumont d'Urville, its intention 'was to gain additional information about the principal groups of islands in the Pacific and to augment the mass of scientific data acquired by Louis Duperrey [see lot 178]. The Astrolabe sailed south, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Port Jackson. Proceeding to New Zealand, its coast, especially the southern part of Cook Strait, was surveyed with great care. Tonga and parts of the Fiji Archipelago were explored, then New Britain, New Guinea, Amboina, Tasmania, Vanikoro, Guam and Java. The return home was by way of Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. Huge amounts of scientific materials were collected and published' (Hill). It is seldom found complete; this copy is without the plates to the Entomologie part. Anker 410; BM(NH) II, p.603; Borba de Moraes I, 273; Brunet II, 881; Ellis, Early Prints of New Zealand (1978) pp.43; Ferguson 1341; Fine Bird Books (1990) pp.92; Hill 504; Nissen BBI 555; Nissen IVB 752; Nissen ZBI 1199; Ronsil 940; Whittell p.216; Wood p.615; Zimmer p.184. 16 volumes, octavo, quarto and folio, uniformly bound in contemporary red morocco, gilt spines, comprising the Histoire du Voyage, Botanique, Zoologie, Entomologie, Philologie and Hydrographique thus: Histoire du Voyage . Paris: 1830-1833. 5 text vols, octavo (242 x 153mm), and atlas, folio (530 x 348mm). Text: half-titles, 9 plates (marginal repair in vols. 4 and 5, faint scattered spots). Atlas: 8pp. letterpress 'Table explicative,' otherwise lithographed or engraved throughout, with one engraved title with vignette, lithographic portrait of Dumont d'Urville, 8 maps (one hand-coloured, 7 double-page), 239 views, ethnographical portraits and plates, of which 62 coloured, after Louis-Auguste de Sainson, Édouard Paris and Bartélemy Lauvergne (faint scattered spots). The majority of the plates are after de Sainson, the expedition's official artist or 'Dessinateur', and show ethnological artefacts and portraits, scenes from the daily life of indigenous peoples and views of ports and anchorages, including Sydney, Hobart, Cape Town and Saint Helena. QUOY, Jean Réné Constant and Joseph Paul GAIMARD. Zoologie . Paris: 1830-1835-1833. 4 text vols in 3, octavo (241 x 152mm), and atlas, folio (530 x 348mm). Text: 8 lithographic plates (faint scattered spots). Atlas: 7pp. letterpress text, otherwise lithographed or engraved throughout, 204 plates after de Sainson, Jean-Gabriel-Prêtre, Nicolas Huet Alphonse Prévost, Quoy, Antoine-Germain Bévalet and others, the majority hand-coloured (faint scattered spotting and browning). They include 28 plates of mammals, 31 birds, 12 fish, 26 zoophytes and 95 of molluscs. LESSON, Pierre Adolphe and Achille RICHARD. Botanique . Paris: 1832-1834. 2 text vols in 1, octavo (241 x 152mm), and atlas, folio (530 x 348mm). Text: (faint scattered spots). Atlas: 1p. letterpress 'table des planches,' otherwise engraved throughout, engraved title with vignette, 80 plates after Vauthier or Mme. E. Delile, by Dunaime, Mme. C. Noiret, Mme. Dondey and others (faint scattered spots). BOISDUVAL, Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchouffour de. Entomologie . Paris: 1832-1835. 2 text volumes in 1, octavo (241 x 150mm). (Without the accompanying plates, faint scattered spots.) Philologie . Paris: 1833. 2 parts in 1 vol., octavo (241 x 152mm). (Faint scattered spots.) Observations Nautiques, Météorologiques, Hydrographiques, et de Physique . Paris: 1833-1834. 4 parts in one text vol., quarto (314 x 245mm), and atlas in port