LABILLARDIÈRE (Jacques Julien Houtou de) - Lot 616

LABILLARDIÈRE (Jacques Julien Houtou de) Relation du voyage à la recherche de La Pérouse, fait par ordre de l'Assemblée constituante, pendant les années 1794, 1792 et pendant la première et la seconde année de la République française. Paris, Jansen, an VIII (1800)(text) and Paris, Dabo, 1817 (atlas). 2 volumes in-4 (text); scattered foxing, a few foxed leaves and an atlas in folio containing 44 plates (one map and 43 views) out of text in black depicting scenes of life (feasting, meals, transport), portraits of natives, their weapons, fauna and flora (after drawings by Redouté). Scattered spotting. Contemporary fawn shagreened basane, ornamented smooth spines, cold fillet framing the boards, gilt roulette on the edges (text) - ½ contemporary fawn calf, ribbed spine, lyre iron between caissons, torn off headpieces, leather missing at head and foot, jaws cracked at the entries (atlas). First edition in the form of a journal in which the naturalist La Billardière recounts the adventures of the expedition in search of the French navigator La Pérouse, who disappeared in 1788. Travelling through the waters bordering northern Australia (New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tonga, New Caledonia), La Billardière focused on the study, description and transcription of these areas, as well as Tasmania. The material collected during this expedition forms a highly interesting ethnographic study (Sabin 38420).