"The Most Important Book On California During Its Mexican Regime"
Voyage Autor Du Monde. Sur La Frégate La Vénus, Pendant Les Années 1836-1839, Publié Par Ordre Du Roi, Sous Les Auspices Du Ministre De La Marine.
Paris: Gide, 1840.
Paris: Gide, 1840-[1843].
First edition. Four octavo text volumes (9 1/8 x 5 7/8 inches; 233 x 150 mm) and a folio atlas (21 3/8 x 14 7/8 inches; 536 x 377 mm). [2, blank], [8], xliv, 402, [2, blank]; [2, blank], [8], 464, [2, blank]; [2, blank], [8], 490, [2, blank]; [2, blank], [8], 178, [8 ads], [2, blank]; [4, blank], [4], 3, [3, blank] pp. Text volumes with numerous tables, seven of which are folding. Volume four with a folding map. Atlas complete with sixty-eight plates, fourteen of which are beautifully hand-colored and twenty-four which are tinted. The rest are black and white. One of which is a map. All plates with tissue guards. Eight pages of publisher's advertisements for M. Dumont-d'Urville's Voyage au pole sud bound in at the end of volume IV.
Text volumes- Contemporary quarter brown calf over marbled boards. Spines lettered in gilt and stamped in blind and gilt. Marbled endpapers. Edges speckled brown. Spines lightly rubbed and corners a bit bumped. Some very light foxing throughout. A three inch closed tear to the folding map in volume IV. Atlas- Contemporary quarter black polished calf over blue cloth. Rebacked preserving original spine. Spine stamped and lettered in gilt. Front board with armorial gilt stamp. Spine lightly rubbed and lower edge of both board with a small amount of chipping. Atlas title-page with a previous owner's small old ink stamp, not affecting text. A small dampstain to bottom edge of plate "Eglise des Missionaries..." not affecting plate. Previous owner's small bookplate on front pastedown of all five volumes. A very good set.
"The most important book on California during its Mexican regime." (Howes, P267).
"This voyage, ostensibly to report on the whale fisheries in the Pacific, was actually primarily political in nature. The presence of the frigate Vénus in ports around the world would be of value to French commerce and diplomacy. After rounding Cape Horn, the expedition made calls up the coast of South America, to Hawaii, Kamchatka, and to California, in order to assist French traders who had been clamoring for support for some time. Du Petit-Thouars's account of his stay in California in 1837 is one of the most important and complete records of the Mexican period in California. In 1838m the Vénus made a run for Easter Island, further investigated the coast of South America, then sailed for the Galápagos and Marquesas Island, Tahiti, and New Zealand. At Tahiti the expedition forced Queen Pomaré to write a letter to the King of France apologizing for mistreatment of French priests, and, further, to pay an indemnity and to salute the French flag. Du Petit-Thouars had also made a treaty with Kamehameha III of Hawaii. After visits to Sydney and Mauritius, the ship sailed home, arriving after a voyage of thirty months. Abel du Petit-Thouars, nephew of the famed French botanist Louis du Petit-Thouars (1758-1831), is credited with bringing the Marquesas under French protection (1842), as well as the Society Islands (1843), and he was made a vice-admiral in 1846. This present set [as this copy] consists of the four volumes if the Relation and the Atlas pittoresque of this voyage, essentially the historical narrative. Another seven volumes of text and three more atlases, by other writers, were published later. These later volumes detailed the scientific observations of the voyage." (Hill, 518). These later volumes are extremely rare.
Hill 518. Howes P267. Sabin 21354. Streeter 2495.
HBS 65310.
$30,000.
Price: $30,000.00
Item #65310