Les voyages du sieur Le Maire aux îles Canaries, Cap-Verd, Sénégal, et Gambie. Sous Monsieur Dancourt, directeur général de la Compagnie roïale d'Affrique

Rare first edition (cf. Gay 367; Leclerc 638).

The work is illustrated with a map of the port and harbor of Brest and five plates: How the beds of the Negroes are made [and] The house of the Negroes – How the Moors ride their Camels, Horses and Oxen with their merchandise – How the Negroes collect palm wine [sic] [and] How they climb the palm trees [and] How the Negroes make incisions to extract the palm wine [and] how they are dressed – Dress of lords and notable persons – How the women are dressed and how they carry their children on their backs [and] How the Negroes dance in a circle.

This account is considered a valuable narrative, offering noteworthy details on the trade of these regions.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf, spine with five raised bands framed with black fillets, bands renewed, hinges restored, corners worn, minor wear to edges, yellow edges sprinkled with red.

A surgeon at the Hôtel-Dieu in Paris, Le Maire was brought along by Dancourt, director general of the Company.

He left Paris in January 1682 and arrived in Gorée on May 20. It remains unclear why this contemporary of Louis XIV is regularly confused in bibliographies and public catalogues with the Dutch navigator Jacob Le Maire (1585–1616), with whom he shares no connection.