LA PÉROUSE JEAN FRANÇOIS DE GALAUP DE (1741-1788).

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LA PÉROUSE JEAN FRANÇOIS DE GALAUP DE (1741-1788).
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, in-4 format, [4], lxxii, 346, [1]; [4], 398, [1] ; [4], 422, [1] ; [4], 309 pages, engraved portrait of La Pérouse after Tardieu ; 1 in-folio atlas, with engraved allegorical title-page by Moreau le Jeune, titled “Atlas du voyage de La Pérouse”, 69 engraved plates comprising folding world map, 38 views and natural history plates, 30 maps or coastal profi les (of which 20 double-page; 10 full page maps) by Le Pagelet, Thomas, Godefroy, Choff ard, Avril, Legrand et d’autres d’après Duché de Vancy, Blondela, Prévost, La Martinière, etc., text volumes on blue paper. Bound in green-stained half-vellum, title-pieces in yellow morocco, yellow edges. Dimensions of text volumes: 215 x 280 mm; dimensions of atlas volume: 375 x 528 mm. First edition of one of the most important scientifi c explorations ever undertaken to the Pacifi c and the northwest American coast, and the fi rst scientifi c voyage to California. In 1783 the French government resolved to send an expedition to the Pacifi c to complete Captain James Cook’s «unfi nished work, and in particular to explore the passages in the Bering Sea, which had been a mystery to Europeans since the sixteenth century. King Louis XVI himself took a hand in drafting the plan and itinerary and when La Pérouse was selected to lead the fl eet gave him an audience before he sailed. In command of two ships, La Boussole and L’Astrolabe (Commandant de Langle), he left Brest on 1 August 1785 making for Brazil. Doubling Cape Horn he refi tted in Chile, then sailed to the Sandwich Islands and thence to Alaska, where he turned south exploring and surveying the coast as far as California. After a short refi t at Monterey, he sailed across the Pacifi c, discovered uncharted islands, and visited Macao and Manila.
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