Beschreibung:

[MARCHAND, Etienne (1755-1793)]. FLEURIEU, Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de (1738-1810). Voyage Autour Du Monde, pendant les années 1790, 1791, et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recherches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween . Paris: Imprimerie de la République, 1798-1800. First edition, a superb set on large paper and bound by Bozerian, of this important account of the second French circumnavigation. This narrative of the first French commercial voyage to the Pacific Northwest is a 'very important and authorative work for the history of the northwest coast' (Lada-Mocarski). It was issued in two forms: 'Simultaneously with this quarto edition there appeared an octavo edition with a quarto atlas. The all-quarto edition... is to be preferred' (Lada-Mocarski). Marchand, commander of the voyage, had learned of the lucrative potential for the fur trade in that region from the British captain, Portlock. He sailed via Cape Horn, stopped at the Marquesas, and traded along the Northwest Coast in the summer of 1791. He gives detailed descriptions of Norfolk Sound and Sitka, followed by a particularly detailed account of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and further explorations as far as the southern end of Vancouver island. From North America, Marchand sailed to Hawaii and then on to Macao, where he failed to sell his valuable cargo of furs. He then returned to France, where the Revolutionary government confiscated his cargo. The voyage was a loss for its investors, Marchand died in 1793, and Count Fleurieu, himself an experienced Pacific explorer, took over the editing and publication of the material from the voyage, as well as adding an authorative history of exploration en route . The detailed maps are of Alaska and the Northwest Coast, the Marquesas, and Hawaii. Forbes 292; Hill 612; Howes F-195; Howgego M43; Lada-Mocarski 54; Sabin 24751 (octavo edition) and 44491; Wagner Northwest I, 212; Wickersham 6622. 4 volumes, quarto (305 x 225mm). Errata leaves to vols. 1-3, vol. 1 with folding table, vol. 4 with 16 engraved folding maps and charts together with the leaf of binder's directions (faint waterstain in upper margin through part of vol. 3, faint spots to 2 plates). Contemporary red morocco by Bozerian, covers with gilt arms within Grecian border incorporating sextant and compass tools, spines gilt with ship motifs, turn-ins gilt (waterstain to vol. 3) . Provenance : Ferdinand, Duke of Parma (1751-1802; binding) – Bibliotheque de Mr Renard (bookplate in vol. 4).