Mission Pavie. Indo-Chine 1879-1895. Ouvrage publié sous les auspices du ministère des Affaires étrangères, du ministère des Colonies et du ministère de l'Instruction publique et des Beaux-Arts

First edition of this important work on former French Indochina, comprising:

• Geography and Travels. Volumes 1 to 7 (1901–1919), illustrated with 52 maps and portraits (40 in color), plus numerous plates and maps within the text or pagination.
• Miscellaneous Studies. Literature, History, Natural History. Volumes 1 to 3 (1898–1904), illustrated with 43 plates and maps (35 in color), plus numerous plates within the pagination.
• Atlas. Notices and Maps. 1 volume (1903), illustrated with 10 color maps.
• For 9 volumes (of 11) in the set: contemporary bindings in half green cloth with tips, smooth spines with some staining and fading, red morocco title labels (some with minor losses), red board covers with a checkered pattern, gray paper endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers bound in (some with minor angular losses, wrapper of volume 3 restored); for the remaining two volumes (Volumes 3 and 7): modern bindings in half green cloth with tips, matching the style of the other nine.

On the half-title page of Volume VI, signed autograph inscription by Auguste Pavie: "A l'ami Vitoux, hommage affectueux. A. Pavie."

Accompanying this set is: "Carte de l'Indo-Chine dressée par MM. les Capitaines Cupet, Friquegnon et de Malglaive membres de la Mission Pavie."

Printed in Paris by Augustin Challamel in 1893 (broadsheet, folded and linen-backed, with some foxing).

The map is housed in a modern half green cloth portfolio with tips, red oasis title label, red board covers, and a red full-cloth slipcase, designed to match the text volumes.

"A pioneer of new routes in Cambodia and Laos, and a key figure in French expansion in Indochina, Auguste Pavie (1847–1925) holds a privileged place among the explorers of this region. Born in Dinan, he joined the army at seventeen, served in Cochinchina with the Marine Infantry (1868), and was sent to Cambodia in 1875 (…). In 1876, he was commissioned by the Governor of Indochina to create a new map of Cambodia, taking advantage of the construction of a telegraph line between Phnom Penh and Bangkok (…). In 1885, Le Myre de Vilers, recognizing his abilities, appointed him to the delicate post of French Consul in Luang Prabang, where he was to defend the rights France had inherited from Annam over Laos (…). From Luang Prabang, Pavie undertook a series of journeys across Laos from 1887 to 1889, regions that Mouhot and F. Garnier had only briefly explored. His investigations focused on three main directions: east (Tran-Ninh, Plain of Jars); northeast (Hua-Panh); and north (Sip-Song-Chau). It was in this last area that Pavie concentrated his efforts, seeking safe routes to Tonkin in order to open up Laos and firmly link it to France's other Indochinese possessions (…). From 1888, Pavie was no longer alone. He surrounded himself with military collaborators—Cogniard, Cupet, Malglaive, Pennequin…—and civilians such as the young diplomat Lefèvre-Pontalis and the brilliant biologist Le Dantec. Within a few years, the Pavie Mission, a veritable geographical service, would number some forty members, not counting the many indigenous auxiliaries. Dispersed in small groups along different routes, the mission members multiplied the leader's efforts, covering considerable ground. Thus, in 1890–1891, surrounded by a large team of geographers, naturalists, doctors, ethnographers, and economists, Pavie successfully completed a vast territorial survey intended to establish the future borders between French Indochina, China, Siam, and Burma (…). The scientific results of this collective enterprise, unparalleled in the French Empire, were impressive. Extending far beyond Laos, the investigations covered Tonkin, Annam, Cambodia, and southern China. In total, some 600,000 km²—an area larger than France—were surveyed and partially mapped, and 70,000 km of land and river routes were recorded (…). Truly multidisciplinary, the Pavie Mission encompassed all fields of knowledge, neglecting neither history, nor literature, nor folklore…" (Cf. Numa Broc, Dictionnaire illustré des explorateurs français du XIXe siècle, Asie, pp. 366–368).

Detailed collation: Geography and Travels: 1) 1901. 4 ll. (incl. portrait of Pavie), 332 pp., 1 l. for map index, 14 numbered color maps (loose), 4 black-and-white maps (1 loose, 3 in text), numerous in-text illustrations. 2) 1906. 3 ll., 402 pp., 1 l. for map index, 8 black-and-white maps (1 loose, 7 in text), numerous in-text illustrations. 3) 1900. 4 ll., 428 pp., 15 numbered color maps (loose) and 1 black-and-white map (loose), 1 portrait (loose), numerous in-text illustrations. 4) 1902. 4 ll., pp. [ix]–xxvii, 296 pp., 1 l. for map index, 8 numbered color maps (loose), 5 black-and-white maps (4 loose, 1 in text), numerous in-text illustrations. 5) 1902. Portrait of the author, 4 ll., pp. [xi]–xlvii, 1 blank l., 326 pp., 1 l. for contents, 3 numbered color maps (loose), 5 black-and-white maps (in text), numerous in-text illustrations. 6) 1911. 4 ll. (incl. 1 black-and-white map), 348 pp., 2 ll. for index, 3 black-and-white maps (in text), numerous in-text illustrations; inscribed by Pavie "A l'ami Vitoux, hommage affectueux." 7) 1919. 2 ll., 376 pp., 2 ll. for index, 3 black-and-white maps (2 loose, 1 in text), numerous in-text illustrations. Miscellaneous Studies: 1) 1898. 4 ll., pp. [v]–xlvi, 367 pp., 1 l. for contents, 1 color map (loose) and 20 color plates (loose), numerous in-text illustrations. 2) 1898. 4 ll., pp. [v]–xlv, 1 l., 494 pp. (misnumbered 449), 1 color map (loose) and 70 plates of inscriptions (in text). 3) 1904. 2 ll., pp. [v]–xxi, 549 pp., 1 l. (printer's mark and address), 1 black-and-white map (loose), 13 color plates (loose), 16 black-and-white plates (loose), 9 plates (in text), numerous in-text illustrations. Atlas. Notices and Maps: 1903. 4 ll., pp. [9]–54, 10 color maps (loose).