Pacific - America - Alaska - Lot 647

Pacific - America - Alaska MARCHAND (Étienne) Voyage autour du Monde, pendant les années 1790, 1791 et 1792, précédé d'une introduction historique ; auquel on a joint des recherches sur les Terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween, orné de cartes et figures par C. P. Claret Fleurieu. Paris, Courcier, 1809 puis Paris, Imp. de la République, an VIII (1800) (tome IV). 4 volumes in-4 ; one folding table and 16 folding maps (numbered 1-15 and 6 bis) surveyed for the northwest coasts of North America, the Marquesas de Mendoça islands (Marquesas Islands), the Tupaya islands (in present-day French Polynesia), Tchinkîtâné Bay (present-day Sitka Sound, Alaska), Queen Charlotte Islands (Canadian archipelago off British Columbia), Sandwich Islands (Hawaii), Strait of Magellan, strait between Banca and Billiton Islands, with light banding to one section. Mouillure in margins of vol. 1, a few leaves in vol. 3 and in outer margins of first leaves of vol. 4. ½ contemporary blond calf, ornate smooth spines, tan title-pieces, black tomaisons, marbled edges. Composite edition of the first edition for volume IV and a later edition for the first 3 volumes. This important account describes the voyage undertaken by Captain Étienne Marchand (1755-1793) aboard the Solide to trade furs on the northwest coast of North America, in particular Alaska. It contains observations on navigation in the Pacific, and on the peoples and natural history of the regions visited, many of which were still unknown to the earlier navigators and Cook. The work was published by Charles-Pierre Claret de Fleurieu (1738- 1810), Minister of the Navy from 1790. Provenance: Purple stamp abbé E. Longin