Copy of the Library of the Princely Family... - Lot 608 - Briscadieu

Copy of the Library of the Princely Family of Starhemberg KERGUELEN TREMAREC (Yves Joseph de) Relation de deux voyages dans les mers australes & des Indes, faits en 1771, 1772, 1773 & 1774, par M. de Kerguelen, commandant les vaisseaux du Roi Le Berrier, La Fortune, Le Gros-Ventre, Le Rolland, L'Oiseau & La Dauphine. Or extrait du journal de sa navigation pour la découverte des Terres Australes, & pour vérification d'une nouvelle route proposée pour abréger d'environ huit cents lieues la traversée d'Europe à la Chine. Paris, Knapen & Fils, 1782. In-8, 244pp ; one folding map in fine (The map, folding out of text in fine, is framed by 9 small maps and views of coasts of the "Terres Australes ou partie septentrionale de l'Isle de Kerguelen"). ½ marbled pastiche fawn basane with corners, ornate smooth spine, blond title-piece, floral-patterned paper endpapers, red edges. Extremely rare first edition of the 2 expeditions of the Breton navigator Kerguelen in search of the legendary southern continent. The work contains a report on the discovery of the Kerguelen Islands, a memoir on Madagascar, and "Observations sur la guerre des Amériques". "Le sieur de Kerguelen is informed that there is every appearance of the existence of a very large continent to the south of the islands of Saint-Paul & Amsterdam, and that it must occupy a part of the globe from latitudes 40 and 45° south to the vicinity of the South Pole, in an immense space which has not yet been penetrated. At the end of August, Kerguelen arrived on the Île de France (Mauritius), where he was welcomed by the Intendant Pierre Poivre. He then fitted out 2 lighter ships, the Fortune and the Gros-Ventre, commanded by his neighbor and friend Louis de Saint-Aloüarn. As the season was not conducive to southern navigation, he took the new eastern sea route to India via the Seychelles and Maldives. On January 16, 1772, after 3 months at sea, he returned to Port-Louis and set sail for the southern lands. The mission took possession, on behalf of France, of what would become the Kerguelen Islands. Sentenced to 6 years' imprisonment for illegal trading, he was released 4 years later and returned to service, taking part in the American War of Independence. Provenance: Red stamp "Fürstlich-Starhemberg' sche. Familien Bibliothek. Schloss Eferding": red ex-libris stamp of the Library of the Princely Family of Starhemberg at Schloss Eferding, Austria.