Histoire de Sumatra, dans laquelle on traite du Gouvernement, du Commerce, des Arts, des Loix, des Coutumes & des Moeurs des Habitans ; des Productions Naturelles, & de l'ancien état politique de cette Isle (…) Traduite de l'Anglois sur la deuxième Édition, avec des Cartes. Par M. Parraud, de l'Académie de Villefranche, & de celles des Arcades de Rome

First edition of the French translation with a plate of the alphabet, a large folding map at the end of the first volume (cf. Quérard V, 561), and a few headpieces and tailpieces.

Contemporary full marbled fawn calf, smooth spines gilt with fillets and bands, blond morocco title labels, volume labels, gilt roll to board edges, French curl paper pastedowns, marbled edges. Pages 333 to 348 of the table of contents are bound between pages 304 and 305 of the text in the second volume. Significant losses to the boards caused by worming, especially to the lower board of the first volume, other leather defects to the joints and spines, headcaps damaged, pastedowns lifting, dampstains and slight creases to some leaves.

The most comprehensive work published at the time on the largest island of Indonesia.

The English orientalist William Marsden [Dublin 1754 - 1836] was also a director of the East India Company and secretary to the Board of Admiralty.

Marsden had travelled to Sumatra in 1771, following his brother, an agent of the Company; he devoted the leisure hours of his administrative post to learning the language of the country. "After spending eight well-employed years in Sumatra, he returned to England in 1779 in hopes of obtaining a more lucrative post. Unsuccessful at first, he dedicated his retirement to this geographical and historical study of the island of Sumatra. Sir Joseph Banks, whom he met around this time, introduced him to such distinguished figures as Darlymple, Rennel, Maskelyne, Solander, and Herschel.

He was soon after elected a fellow of the Royal Society. His History of Sumatra, published in 1782, fully justified this honour (…) Marsden had set himself a very broad framework, encompassing not only the island’s history proper but also an account of its government, laws, and customs, as well as a description of its natural productions; his execution of it was considered exemplary." Cf. Hoefer.