Voyage pittoresque autour du monde.

First edition, never translated into english, and first issue of the fine steel engravings by Sainson.

The illustrations are distributed as follows:

• for the first volume: 141 plates hors-texte including a frontispiece, and 3 folding maps (Hawaii, Tahiti, and a general map of the voyages).
• for the second volume: 136 plates hors-texte, including a frontispiece, and 4 folding maps (Tonga Islands, Hawaii, Pacific Ocean, general map).
• Bindings in emerald green half polished sheep. Spines with four raised bands, decorated with rocaille tools. Red morocco title labels. Spines uniformly lightened. Minor rubbing.
• The steel-engraved plates, after drawings by M. de Sainson, draughtsman of the Voyage of the Astrolabe, depict various peoples from around the world, means of transport by land and sea, animals and plants, landscapes, etc.
• None of the bibliographies specifies the exact number of engravings. The table at the end of volume II clarifies the matter: the plates appear either as double-page plates (72 and 70 respectively, not counting the portrait frontispieces), or as single-page plates, numbering 144 and 140, as in the present copy.
• Moreover, many copies contain duplicates, which accounts for the considerable discrepancies encountered in collation.
• Some foxing. Title page of volume I with yellowing along the inner margin caused by the presence of restoration adhesives on the verso of the leaf.