Voyage aux Indes Orientales et a la Chine depuis 1774 jusqu'en 1781. Dans lequel on traite des mœurs de la religion, des sciences & des arts des Indiens, des Chinois, des Pégouins & des Madégasses; suivi d'observations sur le cap de Bonne-Espérance, les isles de France & de Bourbon, les Maldives, Ceylan, Malacca, les Philippines & les Moluques, & de recherches sur l'histoire naturelle de ces pays

First edition illustrated with 140 unpaged plates (80 in the first volume and 60 in the second) including a map of Pondichéry and 19 double plates, all drawn by the author and superbly engraved on copper by Poisson, Desmoulins, Fessard, Avril and Moliand.
Contemporary bindings in full blond tortoise-shell patterned calf, spine in five compartments richly decorated with gilt panels, lace-work tooling and fleurons, as well as the title pieces and volume labels in red and green morocco, gilt fillets on the boards, leading edges and caps, marbled endpapers, gilt roll tooling on the frames of the paste downs, all edges marbled.
Very discreet restoration to the head and foot of certain joints, some minor, scattered foxing. Plates 103 and 116 of the second volume are uniformly browned. Some plates have been bound in the incorrect order but all are present.
A magnificent work, emblematic of the Enlightenment and the encyclopaedic spirit, which helped to make Indian civilization known to the Europeans.
In 1774, Pierre Sonnerat was appointed Deputy Commissioner of the Navy by Turgot. The king then ordered him to assemble a rich collection of exotic plants and animals and sent him to far-flung horizons: India, Malaysia and China. It was on the return of this journey that he set about writing this vast account dealing with the customs, manners, costumes and ceremonies of the people encountered. The task was immense, Sonnerat took an interest in the Indians, the Chinese, the Pegouins and the Madegasse, in addition to his observations on the Cape of Good Hope, the Isles of France and Bourbon, the Maldives, Ceylon, Malacca, the Philippines and the Moluccas. To accompany his text with a neutral and encyclopaedic tone, the observer returns to his first passion, drawing, and offers his reader superb plates depicting the life of the locals and also impressive and picturesque deities.
Furthermore, much of the work has a naturalise dimension: Sonnerat dedicated 55 plates to natural history, including 29 to Chinese ornithology. His valuable research was authoritative for several years in so far as he described and drew previously unknown species.
Provenance: from Colonel Philippe Milon's library, officer and ornithologist, with his ex-libris glued to the paste down of the first volume.