First edition illustrated with 24 plates, including 18 views and cross-sections, and 6 folding maps and plans (cf. Tailliart, 1229).
Half brown shagreen binding, spine faded with five raised bands, gilt date at foot, marbled paper boards, brown endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Honnelaître.
First and last leaves lightly and partially soiled.
This volume gathers the official reports of the exploration mission led by Mircher (1820–1878), Vatonne, and Polignac, which departed from Tripoli in 1862 and returned via El-Oued after signing a trade treaty with the people of Ghadamès and the Tuareg. This agreement enabled the inclusion of the locality within Algeria until 1951, when it was returned to Libya. In addition to Mircher’s reports, the work contains a notice on Sudanese trade, an account of the political and social state of the “land of the Negroes,” studies on the terrain and water of the regions traversed by the mission, as well as medical observations collected during the journey to Ghadamès, among others.