India - Compagnie des Indes - Lot 558

India - Compagnie des Indes [GENNES (Pierre de) - [LA BOURDONNAIS (Bertrand-François Mahé de)]] Mémoire pour le sieur de La Bourdonnais avec les pièces justificatives. Paris, Delaguette, 1750. (Followed by) Supplément au Mémoire du sieur de La Bourdonnais. Paris, Delaguette, 1751. In-4: 284pp. - 236pp. - 74pp. - 80pp. - 15pp. - 30pp. - 57pp. (supplement to memoir - 751) - 19pp. (loading done at Madraz in 1746); illustrated with a plan of Madras and Fort St Georges (taken by the French commanded by Mahé de la Bourdonnais on September 21, 1746) and 4 folding tables. Contemporary marbled fawn calf, spine ribbed and ornamented, headband partly shaved, small leather loss on the last box at the foot, a split jaw at the foot, double cold fillet framing the boards, double gilt fillet on the edges, red edges. Attached to the work, free, printed document entitled Lettre à M. de *** sur le Mémoire du Sieur de La Bourdonnais (in-4, 16p., bound by string). First edition collection, in-4 format. A sailor from Saint-Malo, La Bourdonnais (1699-1753) was accused by Dupleix of selling out during the capture of Madras. Embarassed, his trial lasted three years. He was exonerated. In the service of the Compagnie des Indes, he owed his title of Comte de Mahé to his valor during the capture of this Indian city. The pieces and the map in the collection (composed under Mahé's direction) form a valuable documentary record of French India and the Mascarenes during the conflicts with England during the War of the Austrian Succession.