Gift Ideas – Travel & Exploration

First edition, one of 87 numbered copies on Alfa paper, only deluxe copies ("tirage de tête").
Spine slightly sunned.

First edition illustrated with drawings by Riou, Rapine and Delahaye.
Half red shagreen binding, spine with five thin raised bands decorated with quintuple gilt compartments ornamented at their centers with gilt fleurons, blind fillet frame on red paper boards, white watered silk endpapers and pastedowns with some foxing, gilt edges, contemporary binding.
Some light foxing mainly at beginning and end of volume.
Handsome interior condition.

New edition. 74 illustrations by Benett, including 13 photographs (Barbados, Saint Lucia...), and 12 polychrome plates and a map of the West Indies.
Publisher's binding known as "Au globe doré" type 4, with the upper plate signed Blancheland, bound by Engel. Second cover type i, with straight red letters on striped background.
Fine first plate with brilliant gilt with discreet soiling in the cartouche and in the sky. Corners turned in. Spine sunned, the gilt still quite brilliant. Soiling in the lighthouse vignette. Headcaps rubbed, the top one slightly depressed. Second cover with some fine scratches. A few leaves slightly proud. Rare scattered foxing, either in margins or on first leaves. Handsome copy overall.
Renowned English college, Antillian school only admits young men from the West Indies, 9 boarders are awarded travel scholarships. They experience a turbulent sea crossing to the West Indies archipelago, the captain and crew who welcome them being in fact criminals.

New edition, the first illustrated dating from 1872. 53 in-text illustrations by Ferat and 3 color chromolithographs hors-texte, and one map in black. Second issue of the "Aux feuilles d'acanthe" binding.
Publisher's binding called "Aux feuilles d'acanthe" with red medallion. Fine first plate with points of discoloration in the medallion. Second board clean but bearing on the upper part whitish traces of light discoloration. Some very skillful small restorations at the joints and headcaps. Fresh copy free from foxing, with paper uniformly slightly tinted. Good copy.
In southern Africa, three Russian scientists and three English scientists are tasked with measuring a meridional arc. Two enemy nations find themselves allied at the moment of the declaration of the Crimean War. One can distinguish in this novel a severe condemnation of slavery.

First French edition of the Account of the Capture of His Majesty's Ship Bounty translated by Daniel Lescallier. It is illustrated with 3 maps, including one of the voyage in the launch, one of the islands discovered by Lieutenant Bligh, and one of the coasts of New Holland.
Contemporary full marbled brown sheep binding, spine with raised bands decorated with urn tools in lozenges, rolled decoration at foot, red morocco title-label. Some rubbing.
Captain Woodard was held prisoner by the Malays on the island of Celebes for two years and five months; his testimony was collected by Vaughan in England while the captain was making a stopover. Describing his captivity and adventures, he also reports on the food, fauna and flora, customs and practices of the natives. In the appendix, several very remarkable accounts of shipwrecks: loss of the frigate La Pandore, loss of Captain Kenedy's vessel, account of the black hole...
The Account of the Capture of His Majesty's Ship Bounty relates its voyage and the famous mutiny. After a six-month stay in Tahiti and a cargo of breadfruit trees, the revolt broke out on board on April 28, 1789; the captain and 18 of his men were forced into a drifting launch, with only ship's biscuits for food. After 48 days of navigation, this meager crew landed at Timor with all hands. Christian Fletcher, one of the lieutenant's mates, and 24 other men remained on the Bounty. William Bligh attributes this unexpected revolt, according to him, to the life the men found in Tahiti, and the desire to return to a gentle life far from the discipline of an English ship. Cinema would find in this maritime story eloquent symbols to exploit: youth against authority and blind and arbitrary repression, freedom... Christian Fletcher would establish a colony with some of his men on Pitcairn Island (the others having remained in Tahiti); in all likelihood, they killed each other and only one survivor remained.
Handsome copy.

Illustrated edition of 79 original etchings by Pierre Falké, one of 125 numbered copies on Montval, ours one of 15 copies of collaborator justified and signed by Pierre Falké .
The 79 etchings are composed as follows: 1 on the double-page cover, 1 on the frontispiece, 1 on the title page, 21 insets, including 1 double-page, 55 initials and culs-de-lampe.
Back of the shirt and the case with wetting, stings on the boards of the case which also have some small gaps of paper.
Rare foxing, otherwise pleasant interior state.
Provenance: from the library of Anne-Marie Frélaut with her ex-libris engraved by her father, the painter Jean Frélaut.

New edition.
Braid binding in full blue canvas, smooth back, title piece of old rose shagreen, preserved quilts.
Some small foxing.
Our copy is enriched with an original drawing of the painter and engraver Jean Frélaut depicting a desert landscape that he signed the initial of his name and enhanced with watercolor and pencil.
He also inscribed, in pencil, these words: "April 19, 1869. Fromentin, after Fromentin F."

First French edition, illustrated with 37 wood-engraved plates and several in-text illustrations, as well as a map. The first English edition appeared in 1868, the American edition in 1869.
Contemporary half red shagreen binding signed Magnier. Spine with false raised bands decorated with radiating compartments. Red grained cloth boards with blind-ruled borders. Edges gilt. Rubbing to headcaps and joints. Corners slightly bumped. Some scattered foxing, particularly at the beginning of the work, quite rare thereafter.
A member of several scientific expeditions, the author, before reaching the Yukon (the principal river crossing Alaska from east to west), whose exploration forms the central part of the work, begins with a description of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, then upon his return from the voyage, describes California and its evolution over 3 chapters, notably San Francisco.

Illustrated with original lithographs by Raymond Moretti and printed in 300 copies on vergé de Rives.
Handwritten signature of Raymond Moretti under the justification.
A nice copy.

Missions de l'Orégon et voyages dans les Montagnes Rocheuses en 1845 et 1846
First edition in French, translated by Bourlez. Smet’s father also produced a translation in an edition published in Ghent, also in 1848. Two-tone lithographed frontispiece and frontispiece-title on China paper. 12 two-tone lithographic plates on thick paper showing the lives of Native Americans.
Half dark brown sheep. Spine with mock-bands with three Romantic blindtools and gilt roulettes. Upper joint cracked at head and foot and rubbed. Leather tail-piece worn away, revealing cardboard. Leaves 251 and 253 detached. Scattered spotting. Covers and edges rubbed.
The work is the account of a journey by Smet, a missionary Jesuit priest, along the Colombia river, which runs from Canada to the United States. Smet undertook this voyage to the Athabasca river, arriving at Fort Augusta on the 1st January 1846. On another trip, he went back to Fort Vancouver. He finally left again in July and stopped at the mission of Saint Marie before travelling down the Missouri. The work contains a deal of information on the area of Oregon and on Native Americans, including their costumes, habits, and beliefs.
NB : This work can be viewed at the bookshop with 48 hours’ advance notice.

First edition, one of 300 numbered copies pure cloth, one draw after 13 Chinese and 37 Japanese.
Signed autograph Francis Carco Paul Lombard.
Book illustrated with 18 original woodcuts by Deslignieres.
A small lack in foot of the first flat, flat with slight angles.

First edition.
Full brown sheep binding, smooth discolored spine decorated with gilt romantic arabesques, gilt roulettes on headcaps, top headcap worn, frame of quadruple gilt fillets decorated with typographical fleurons in the corners on paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, frame of fine gilt dentelle on pastedowns, original wrappers preserved with small corner restorations, corners slightly bumped, gilt fillets on leading edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.
Signed autograph inscription from the Vicomte de Larochefoucauld.
Some rubbing traces on binding, occasional light foxing.
Gift inscription in ink on front wrapper.

First edition printed in a small number of copies on laid Holland paper.
Bradel binding in full marbled paper, smooth spine decorated with a title label as well as labels reproducing the ex-libris of the previous owner of the work, bookplate pasted on a pastedown, original wrappers preserved, top edge speckled.
Autograph inscription signed by the Count de Lévis-Mirepoix to Count de Falloux: "... avec mon plus fidèle et affectueux souvenir..."
Provenance: from the library of Bourg d'Iré, property of Count de Falloux with reproductions of his ex-libris pasted on the spine of the binding and his bookplate pasted on a pastedown.
Rare and handsome copy.

First edition, one of 350 numbered copies on marais crèvecoeur paper, the only large paper copies.
A good copy.

Original engraving. Optical view heightened in watercolour, depicting an interior view of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
Optical views, also called vues, perspectives or "mondo nuovo", are engravings that were very fashionable between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were intended to be observed through a set of mirrors or by means of a Zograscope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Optical views can be considered the precursors of three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which enjoyed great success from the 19th century onwards. Optical views seem to appear in the 1740s and were parlour entertainments. The process was first developed in Paris, then London and finally in Germany and aimed to represent - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of East and West.
A fine impression with very fresh colours.

Original engraving. Vue d'optique heightened in watercolour, depicting an interior view of the Royal Exchange in London.
Vues d'optique, also called vues, perspectives or "mondo nuovo", are engravings that were highly fashionable between the late 18th and early 19th centuries. They were intended to be viewed through a set of mirrors or by means of a Zograscope, an instrument consisting of a mirror and a lens. Vues d'optique can be considered the precursors to three-dimensional images and stereoscopes which enjoyed great success from the 19th century onwards. Vues d'optique appear to have emerged in the 1740s and were drawing-room entertainments. The process was first developed in Paris, then London and finally in Germany, and sought to represent - in an idealized manner - the most famous panoramas and landscapes of the Orient and Occident.
Fine impression with very fresh colours.