World tours and great maritime and terrestrial expeditions: atlases, navigation and exploration accounts, distant travels and civilization discoveries

Autograph postcard, signed "Alain", addressed to Lucien Daniaux in Papeete, Tahiti, written on the reverse of a photographic portrait of a smiling young Polynesian woman. Stamp of Australian Papua, postal marks, English censorship stamp ("passed by censor").

Sent a few months before his death, this postcard documents the final journey of the French traveller, undertaken amid the hostile climate of the Second World War.

First French edition, with a colour frontispiece, two engraved title pages from the English edition, and sixty-one full-page plates under tissue guards, two volumes bound in one.

Full green glazed calf, covers blind-stamped with gilt-tooled borders, spine with four raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, blind-stamped motifs between the bands, gilt fillets on the headcaps, title and gilt-stamped ex-dono inscription ("offert à Madame Ramaeckers") on the spine, gilt-tooled board edges, blind-stamped border on the pastedowns, pink paper pastedowns, gilt edges, a fine Romantic binding attributable to Thouvenin jeune. Binding sunned and lightly rubbed with...

First complete edition.

It is illustrated with two frontispieces, twenty-four full-page engravings, and a folding map of Telemachus's travels. The portrait of Fénelon serving as frontispiece to the first volume is signed Baillieul and Duflos; the second frontispiece, together with the plates, is signed Bonnart fils and Giffart, while the map is drawn by Rousset and engraved by Berey. A few head-pieces, bandeaux, and ornamental initials. 

Bindings in full red morocco signed Chambolle-Duru, richly decorated covers, spine with five raised bands ruled in gilt, gilt panels and fleurons between the bands, author, title, volume number, place and date lettered in gilt on...

First edition, illustrated with 59 drawings by Léon Bennet and Paul Philippoteaux, 35 facsimiles of early engravings, and 20 maps or plans.

Catalogue S bound in at the end.
Publisher’s brick-red cloth binding in the so-called “Ptolemaic Sphere” design, one of Souze’s most harmonious binding compositions, bound by Engel; upper cover decorated with a special plaque designed by Souze, lower cover of type b with central rosette and darkened corner palmettes; brown endpapers characteristic of the first edition; all edges gilt. 

Scattered foxing. One lower corner bumped, minor rubbing to the upper cover along the joint, lower cover darkened and with a few small...

Stated fifth edition, illustrated with 316 wood engravings, including numerous plates. This fifth edition is the only one issued in the publisher’s cloth.
Publisher’s binding by Souze. Half red shagreen. Spine richly tooled with a bouquet of flowers, various large tools and special rolls. Boards elaborately decorated with a central gilt panel bearing the American eagle and the motto: E pluribus unum. Broad red and black border with several red and gilt medallions on a black ground. Gilt edges. A few scattered marginal foxmarks. Some rubbing, notably to the headcaps. Corners softened.

A handsome copy in its publisher’s binding.

First edition of the French translation, of which no deluxe copies were printed.

Crease to the upper left corner of the lower cover and the last leaves.

Illustrations.

Precious inscribed copy to Bernard Kouchner: "To my dear friend Bernard always true to his beliefs and a great partner. With deep admiration and affection. Madeleine 15/11/03."

Third edition, the second issued under this title, partly original as it includes several new memoirs and the general tariff of Holland.

See Sabin 47557. Cioranescu 35613. Kress 3019. Not in Goldsmiths or Einaudi. See INED 2306 for the "Grand trésor historique et politique du florissant commerce des Hollandois" (1712).

Amsterdam, Du Villard, Changuion, 1718, 8vo,

Full mottled tan calf, spine with raised bands decorated with gilt fillets, garlands and floral tools (partly faded), red morocco title label, gilt rolls at the head and tail, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillet on board edges, red edges, one lower corner bumped, others slightly rubbed, contemporary...

First edition.

Each booklet is richly illustrated with in-text and full-page figures or photographs.

Expeditions in the Mediterranean (1952–1964), including the study of the islet of Grand Congloué, campaigns in the northeastern Mediterranean, along the coast of Provence, and in the Gulf of Genoa.

Campaigns in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean (1951–1954), and in the tropical Atlantic (1956–1962), including missions in the Gulf of Guinea, the Cape Verde Islands, and off the Atlantic coasts of South America. General index for volumes I to XI.

Back cover of the first volume soiled; small tear at the top of the front cover of the third booklet.

A rare and appealing...

Very rare first run of this fascinating maritime periodical, whose publication, under the direction of the renowned Edouard Corbière (1793-1875), continued until 1838 (a total of 18 issues), before the title was absorbed into the Journal de la marine (see Polak, 6955, who only records and knew of the first volume).

The set is illustrated with 15 plates: 4 lithographed plates hors texte, including one folding plate, for the first volume; 2 hors texte plates, one of them lithographed, for the second; 3 lithographed plates for the third volume; a lithographed frontispiece in each of the following volumes: 4, 5, 6 and 7; and 3 lithographed plates, including a frontispiece, for...

First and only Castilian edition of these navigation tables, which were nonetheless translated into English as early as 1801.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

Contemporary half vellum with corners, smooth spine tooled in blind with Greek key rolls, rubbed cherry shagreen label with losses, marbled paper boards with scratches and losses, sprinkled edges, period binding.

José de Mendoza y Ríos (1761-1816) was a mathematician and astronomer; he specialised in the field of nautical astronomy.

First edition illustrated with 62 figures in the text or full-page, included in the pagination.

Half green oasis morocco, spine with five raised bands, marbled paper sides, endpapers and pastedowns of marbled paper, original wrappers and spine preserved, top edge gilt, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

A few small spots of foxing, manuscript ex-dono at the head of the front wrapper.

A pleasing copy.

Second edition of the French translation (Sabin 98442).

Bound in modern pastiche half beige calf, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, red morocco title labels and brown morocco volume labels, marbled paper boards.

The final two leaves of volume two have been restored, with loss of text: a few letters are missing from page 381, and there is a loss of text on pages 383–384, which comprise the table of contents; occasional light spotting, blind stamps to the lower right corner of title-pages.

Complete set including the atlas, sixth and final volume, illustrated with 17 plates and 9 maps.

A handsome copy of this celebrated voyage of exploration through the...

First edition of this significant publication issued by the Commission of Inquiry tasked with collecting all available data and documentation on the cultivation, production, and sale of tobacco.

Illustrated with numerous folding tables and a folding map of France, printed in lithography by A. Cabassol and bound out of text.

Apparently not recorded in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.

Contemporary half calf binding, flat spine rebacked and decorated with gilt fillets, morocco labels in light brown, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards with minor marginal flaws, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges.

Some spotting to top edge; an embossed ownership...

First edition of the official account of the circumnavigation undertaken by La Thétis and L'Espérance, published by Arthus Bertrand in 1837, eleven years after the expedition's return.

The atlas, complete as issued, comprises 56 plates and maps, including 13 hand-coloured plates: engraved views after the drawings of the Vicomte Edmond de La Touanne, hydrographic charts, a large folding map tracing the route of the voyage, and natural history plates coloured by hand at the time of publication, among them a pair of seals and the celebrated heteradelph Ake.

First edition.

Bound in full cherry red morocco, smooth spine richly gilt with romantic typographic ornaments, gilt roll tooling on the caps, boards framed with double gilt fillets and interlaced motifs with gilt corner fleurons, gilt AO monogram stamped at the center of the boards, gilt garland border on the pastedowns, moiré sky-blue silk endpapers and pastedowns, trace of a removed bookplate on one pastedown, gilt fillets on the edges, all edges gilt, contemporary binding.

The sections relating to the colonies are as follows: Martinique, pp. 199–203; Guadeloupe and dependencies, pp. 204–209; French Guiana, pp. 210–212; Bourbon, pp. 216–220; French settlements in Oceania...

Extremely rare volume illustrated with 12 fine full-page lithographs by Ferdinand Perrot.

Contemporary binding in aubergine half shagreen, flat spine decorated with gilt fillets and dotted lines, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper-covered boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners slightly bumped.

Scattered foxing, some leaves toned due to paper acidity, author's name handwritten in white ink at the head of the spine.

Bookplate of A. Hennique mounted on a blank endpaper, with the motto "la vie est un voyage".

Second edition illustrated with two folding plates (cf. Polak 1048).

The first edition was published in 1729.

A hydrographer and mathematician, son of Jean Bouguer, Pierre Bouguer (1698–1758) would later gain recognition for his work on light and geodesy.

Disbound copy.

Unpublished French manuscript translation of the Giurisprudenza marittima-commerciale antica e moderna, Luigi Piantanida's monumental four-volume treatise on maritime and commercial law, published in Milan between 1806 and 1808 and dedicated to Napoleon. The translation was prepared by a certain J. Brunet, whose identity has not been established. Folio (25.5 × 39.3 cm), 680 unnumbered manuscript pages.

Modern period-style binding in half mottled tan calf with vellum corners...

First edition, illustrated with a frontispiece by Ozanne depicting the frigate *L’Aurore*, engraved by Haussard, four plates of instruments, and one folding map at the end of the volume (cf. Polak 2098).

Contemporary-style binding in bronze half calf, flat spine decorated with double gilt fillets, bronze morocco title label with some rubbing, marbled paper boards, modern binding.

In 1767, Coutanvaux was commissioned by the Académie des Sciences to undertake a voyage to the North to test various marine timekeeping systems.

Some light foxing, not affecting the text.

First and unique edition of this work, illustrated with 9 plates engraved by Benard after drawings by Penevert (cf Polak 8371).

Binding in half mottled tawny basane with vellum corners, smooth spine decorated with gilt friezes, black basane title piece partially torn, some rubbing and small holes on the spine, marbled paper boards with small paper losses, contemporary binding.

Some restorations on the spine, corners rubbed.

This work is one of the volumes of the *Description des Arts et Métiers* published at the initiative of the Académie des Sciences.

Author of numerous works on navigation and ships, Romme was a professor of mathematics at the School of Marine...

First edition, illustrated with 59 drawings by L. Bennet and P. Philippoteaux, 35 facsimiles of antique engravings, and 20 maps or plans. Double volume, AB catalogue for 1880.
Publisher's brick-red cloth binding known as "à La sphère ptolémaïque" (one of the most harmonious designs among Souze's publisher's bindings), bound by Engel. Specially designed cover plaque by Souze. Striking front board with bright gilt. Minor splits at headcaps and rubbed spine ends. Spine in very good condition, with well-preserved gilt lettering.
Rear board of type b, with a central rosette and darkened corner palmettes. Brown endpapers characteristic of the first edition. Foxing on the title page due to...

First edition, illustrated with 18 copper-engraved plates in the first volume and 22 copper-engraved plates in the second.

Contemporary bindings in green half shagreen, spines with four raised bands, decorated with blind-ruled fillets and double gilt panels with ornamental cornerpieces; minor rubbing to the spines, boards in green paper-covered cardboard with blind-stamped frames and a few minor surface abrasions, heavily bumped corners. Endpapers and pastedowns of white moiré silk slightly soiled at margins as often, all edges gilt.

Foxing.

A compilation of selected excerpts from the most celebrated travel narratives.

Jacques-Bernard Hombron (1798–1852), a naval...

First edition, illustrated with 6 photographic plates and 2 folding maps.

This is the text of a lecture given at the Norwegian Geographical Society on 22 September 1937.

A very good copy.

Rare work illustrated with 199 in-text full-page costume plates, as stated in the table (not recorded by Colas. Hilaire p. 14).

Contemporary binding in red half shagreen, spine with four raised bands, triple panels ruled in blind and decorated with gilt central floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, a few small tears to the edges; period binding.

Two leaves have been restored (pages 51 and 147), one marginal tear, otherwise clean and fresh throughout.

A sweeping illustrated survey of the peoples of the world, featuring a substantial section on Oceania.

Among others, it depicts Russians from the Tver region, inhabitants of...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a portrait of the author and 29 engraved plates depicting objects, ornaments, coins, plants, and animals (cf. Cordier, Bibl. Japonica, 447. Gay, 3151. Brunet, V, 850).

Contemporary full marbled calf bindings, flat spines richly decorated with gilt typographic tools, gilt roll tooling at head and tail, brown morocco title-pieces, dark green morocco volume labels, gilt roll-tooled borders on boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, gilt fillets on board edges, yellow edges.

A Swedish botanist and naturalist, Carl Peter Thunberg (1743–1828) studied medicine and natural history at Uppsala and became one of Linnaeus’s most...

Paris, Knapen & Fils, 1782. Octavo, viii, 244 pages and 2 unnumbered leaves of approbation and privilege.

First edition, illustrated with a large folding map entitled "Terres Australes ou partie septentrionale de l'Isle de Kerguelen", surrounded by eight coastal views and profiles. The volume contains the accounts of Kerguelen's two expeditions to the southern seas between 1771 and 1774, a memoir on Madagascar on pages 154-169, and "Observations on the War in America" on pages 121-133. Cf. Sabin, 37618.

Contemporary full mottled tan calf, smooth...

Very rare first edition illustrated with 4 maps and 2 plates out of text: map of Amsterdam Island, map of part of the northwest coast of America, of the northern mouth of Queen Charlotte Sound, plan of Bokerelle port on the northwest coast of America, sea wolves and sea lions (cf. Sabin 61001. Howes 7897. F. Monaghan 1174. Lada Mocarski 89. Gay 272. Ferguson 980. Hill 230. Borba de Moraes II, 663: "A description of Bahia appears in Vol. I").

Scattered foxing. Minor losses and rubbing to joints.

Contemporary full khaki green calf bindings, spines faded and decorated with raised false bands adorned with gilt garlands, dotted lines, and gilt rules, along with blind-stamped...

First French edition published simultaneously with the octavo edition (more common), by the same publisher. Illustrated with a folding frontispiece, a large folding map of the Cape and 15 plates, some folding. All plates have been bound at the end of volumes I and II.

Contemporary full speckled brown sheep binding. Decorated spine with raised bands. Red morocco title label, black morocco volume labels. Double blind fillet to boards. Lacks to joints at head of volume I. Upper joint narrowly split at head and tail of tome I. In tome II upper joint rubbed. Corners restored with leather strips. At the end of the second volume, some leaves browned, otherwise scattered light foxing...

Edition published in the same year as the first edition, with the spurious statement of "Eleventh Edition" on the title page.

Contemporary half brown shagreen over marbled boards, spine with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black panels featuring central gilt floral tools, marbled endpapers, sprinkled edges.

A few minor spots of foxing.

A handsome copy in an attractive contemporary binding.

Later edition, stated eighth edition.

Contemporary half brown shagreen over marbled paper boards, spine with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with black double-panel compartments featuring gilt central floral tools, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

A few minor spots of foxing.

A handsome copy attractively bound in its contemporary binding.

Edition from the same year as the first edition, of remarkable rarity, bearing a fictitious statement of fifteenth edition, yet featuring correct colophon (1872) at the foot of p. 312: "1124-72". 

Binding in brown half sheepskin, spine with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black compartments bearing central gilt fleurons, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

A few minor foxing spots of no consequence.

A fine copy attractivelyhoused in a contemporary binding, published the same year as the first edition.

First English edition, printed after the first edition published in Milan in 1959 and the American edition published that same year, on ordinary paper, complete with its original unclipped dust jacket.
Publisher's red cloth binding, title and names of author and publisher to spine in gilt. Manuscript inscription, dated February 1964, on the front free endpaper.
Spine of the dust jacket sunned as is often the case, joints of the front board very slightly split, small tears at the head of the front board and a few minute red offsetting to that same board.
Scattered foxing and light browning to the pastedowns and endpapers.

English reprint of 1955 — the first American edition was published in 1927 and the first English edition in 1928 — on ordinary paper, complete with its original illustrated unclipped dust jacket.

Publisher's binding in light blue cloth, title, author's name and publisher's device stamped in dark blue to spine, title repeated, also in dark blue, to head of upper board.

Spine ends and edges slightly sunned as is often the case, a...

First edition, one of 16 numbered copies on pur fil paper, the deluxe issue.
A very good copy despite a tiny stain on the upper cover beneath the printed title.

Illustrated edition with 150 drawings by Riou.

Publisher's catalogue by FN bound in at the rear.

Hetzel publisher's binding "aux deux éléphants" type 3, full red percaline binding signed A. Lenègre, rear board type "e" as identified by Jauzac, original blue endpapers, all edges gilt. Manuscript inscription on the title page, upper right.

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...

Very rare first edition (cf. Ryckebusch 7452).

Four copies are recorded in the CCFr, all in Paris at the BnF: Tolbiac (2), Arsenal and Richelieu.

Spine and boards restored and reattached, with losses to the corners,

A refutation of the memorandum by Baron de Lareinty, former delegate of Martinique, urging the National Assembly to reject the bill establishing trial by jury in the colonies.

Denouncing judicial practices prejudicial to men of colour, this memorandum is jointly signed by four liberal deputies: Victor Schoelcher, Alexandre Laserve and J. François de Mahy, representatives of the island of Réunion in the Assembly, and Philippe Pory-Papy, deputy for...

First edition.

Contemporary full mottled fawn calf, smooth spine gilt with floral tools and gilt geometric tooling, tan calf lettering-piece, gilt rolls to the headcaps now largely faded, a small loss to the upper headcap, some rubbing to the joints, single blind fillet framing the covers, marbled endpapers, gilt fillets to the edges of the boards mostly worn away, yellow sprinkled edges, corners just a little softened; a period binding.

Sole edition of this history of travel since Antiquity, considered from the standpoint of its benefits to trade and commerce.

The work is nominally presented as a translation, though it is in fact by the Marseille man of letters...

Rare first edition, illustrated with a large folding plate containing a hand-coloured map.

Cf. Ferguson I, 814 ("Section 12 deals with Australia and New Zealand"). Not recorded by Sabin and by most other bibliographers.

Bradel case binding in paper-covered boards, beige wrappers, smooth spine with some rubbing, blind title to the spine, original plain wrappers preserved; modern binding.

Small marginal losses to the corners of the first few leaves, not affecting the text.

The plate outside the text offers a world map in which the Protestant areas are shown in pink, together with a detailed list of the various missionary societies by region or city.

New edition illustrated with 66 plates and maps printed outside the text, most of them folding: 3 frontispieces, 39 plates and 24 maps, including a world map and charts of the various islands, some printed with coastal profiles, as well as views of ports (Manila, Bahia, Scio), of islands (the Canaries, Cape Verde), monuments, a shipwreck, battle scenes, indigenous peoples, flora (apricot, cocoa), and fauna (birds, fish), together with a curious depiction of the “hippopotamus or sea-horse” (vol. 3, p. 361).

Cf. Sabin, 18382. Borba de Moraes, I, 243-244. Leclerc (1867), 416. Cordier, Bibl. Indosinica, 1459-1460. Boucher de La Richarderie, I, 121-122. Hoefer, XII, 881-885.

Atlas volume only from this important 8-volume work, produced within the broader movement to generalize the use of statistics initiated by ministers François de Neufchâteau and subsequently Chaptal. 

Contemporary half flexible paper boards, smooth spine without lettering in blue cloth, marbled paper-covered boards with a printed title label of the period to the centre of the upper cover, spine restored.

Marginal dampstaining to the boards, occasional spotting or soiling to the margins of some leaves.

Herbin, who coordinated the work, draws upon official data that prefects were required to supply for this purpose. 

This volume, in accordance with the table of...

This critical survey of the Dutch possessions in Indonesia survives in three versions — English, French, and Dutch — without it being possible to determine with certainty which constitutes the original edition.

Only three copies are recorded in the CCF. 

Written at the outset of the Fourth Anglo-Dutch War (1780–1784), triggered by the early recognition of American independence by the United Provinces, this pamphlet seeks to highlight the weaknesses of the administration of the Dutch East India Company and the vulnerability of its possessions to a French or British attack.

In fact, hostilities quickly turned to the disadvantage of the Dutch, who in 1784 were compelled to...

First edition of this important royal declaration partially reversing the compulsory deportation measures established by the declarations of 8 January and 12 March 1719.

Responding to repeated complaints from colonial governors, the royal government henceforth resolved that only voluntary emigrants should be sent to populate the colonies.

Our copy is offered disbound.

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with 40 plates outside the text (35 finely hand-coloured), together with 90 wood-engraved vignettes in the text (cf. Sabin 65478. See Printing and the Mind of Man, no. 303, for the third English edition in five volumes.)

Some light spotting; small loss to the first leaf of volume II, affecting the text with the loss of a few words; library shelf labels covering the publisher’s name, printed bookplates and library shelf numbers to the title-pages.

Contemporary half calf, the smooth spines decorated with gilt and blind fillets, black morocco lettering- and volume-pieces; joints cracked and restored, some rubbing to the spines...

First edition, with 18 engraved maps et 5 folding engraved plates.
Contemporary tan calf, skillfully restored tear to the first folding map, some marginal restorations to the map “Troisième division - Archipel des navigateurs”. Falkland Islands map expertly rebacked on the outer margin as well as the Magellan Strait map. Map of the Buton Strait with a small marginal tear and a second restored with a strip of paper.
Bougainville undertook the first official French circumnavigation and scientific expedition. Starting from Nantes in November 1766, he sailed to the Falklands, made a stopover in Buenos Aires and then crossed the Magellan Strait and the...