First editions of travel and exploration accounts, first discoveries, travel journals and explorers' accounts

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.

Work published by the Japanese Ministry of Railways, admirably illustrated with 166 illustrations. This new edition was entirely revised and the illustration is completely new. The Ministry of Railways published this collection from 1923 to 1928; from 1923 to 1925, the collection contained numerous bird's-eye view maps by Yoshida, which were replaced by photographs and now only adorn the pastedowns. This is the first collection to use photography with 126 black and white photographs and 18 hand-colored ones. 22 color prints by Hatsusaburo Yoshida. 7 folding color maps and several black and white maps in-text.
Cloth binding and cardboard slipcase. Pale green cloth covers. Smooth spine w

First edition for which no deluxe paper copies were issued.

Spine slightly sunned with small losses at head and foot, a slight marginal loss and a transverse crease to the lower cover.

A rare copy of Alexandra David-Néel's second work.

First edition, illustrated with a very large folding map of the Indo-Chinese peninsula, lithographed in colours and bound at the end (cf. Cordier, Indosinica, p. 1000.)

Bradel binding in green half cloth, smooth spine, red shagreen title label, marbled paper boards, covers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Published in the "Revue indo-chinoise", issues 82–87. In 1898, Laos was incorporated into the Indochinese Union at the initiative of Paul Doumer, Governor-General of Indochina from 1897 to 1902.

Manuscript bookplate on the cover.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Bulletin de la Société normande de géographie.

Contemporary-style Bradel binding in full burgundy cloth, spine titled lengthwise, burgundy paper endleaves and pastedowns, wrappers doubled and restored and preserved, modern binding. 

Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Sainte-Geneviève, Condorcet).

This is the author’s second report delivered before a Norman audience (Pelliot had family ties to Normandy), concerning the 1906–1908 expedition to Chinese Turkestan.

It followed the Paris lecture (Trois ans dans la haute Asie, conférence de M. Paul Pelliot au grand amphithé

First edition (cf. Mendelssohn I 696; not recorded by Gay.)

Some foxing.

Contemporary half tawny sheep, spine in five compartments with raised bands, bands tooled with gilt dotted rolls and decorated with gilt fillets and fleurons, blue shagreen title-piece, author"s name in green shagreen, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, top edge red, period binding. 

Auguste Haussmann (Winterzenheim 1815 – Alger-Mustapha 1874), a diplomat, was appointed French consul at the Cape of Good Hope, where he collected traditions still current among the descendants of the French Huguenots who had settled at the Cape after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

Pages 1 to 134

First edition.

Contemporary half lemon calf binding, spine darkened and smooth, decorated with gilt quintuple fillets and garlands, black shagreen title label, rubbing to the spine and spine ends, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, a few nicks to the edges, contemporary binding.

Some light foxing, rubbing and small losses of paper at the corners of the boards, library shelfmark stamp to a flyleaf and the title page.

Only edition: despite the similarity of subject matter, this work should not be confused with the "Rudiments de la langue hindoustani" by the same author.

Joseph Héliodore Garcin de Tassy (1794–1878) was a French orien

First edition of the final work devoted to the Canary Islands by the zoologist and ethnographer Sabin Berthelot (1794-1880), whose first stay in the islands dates back to 1820.

From that time onward, he resided for the most part in Tenerife and devoted himself to the study of his adopted country.

At the end of the volume, the work is illustrated with 20 plates printed outside the text, some with coloured subjects.

A few minor spots of foxing.

First edition.

Original wrappers, complete with its color illustrated dust jacket.

Association copy, signed and inscribed: "A mon cher Georges Hugnet en souvenir de cette petite AMERICA '57 et de son ami Orfeo Tamburi / Paris 8.5.'68" [To my dear Georges Hugnet in remembrance of this little AMERICA '57 and his friend Orfeo Tamburi / Paris 8.5.'68]

Fine copy of this journey through the United States, with 37 illustrations by Tamburini from his travels to New York, Brooklyn, Chicago, New Orleans, Harrisburg, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Providence.

Hugnet and Tamburi collaborated on several artists' books: La Morale à Nicolas

First edition.

Full marbled calf binding, spine with five raised bands and decorated rolls, red morocco title label, boards ruled in blind, marbled paper pastedowns and endpapers, a slight dampstain to corner of first few leaves, a tear to first folding plate and one of the ensign plates not affecting either illustration.

With a frontispiece by Lamsveld and 31 superb plates all hand-coloured except the last two of the ensigns, numerous woodcuts throughout.

Rare first edition of this naval

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 drawi

First edition illustrated with 8 lithographed plates printed outside the text and protected by tissue guards.

Only two copies recorded in the CCF (BnF and ENC).

The sole edition, uncommon: in fact a miscellany assembled by Fanny Claudet (Madame Prosper Richomme), bringing together "orientalist" texts that had already become classics on this part of the Middle East (Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Poujoulat, Michaud, Francis Wey, etc.).

Second edition comprising the reissue of the first two volumes of the Bulletin, no less scarce than the copies of the first edition, and corresponding to the opening phase of Bourbon’s legislative and regulatory activity, a veritable mine of information not only on legal matters but on every aspect of the island’s daily life (cf. Ryckebusch, 1224).

Contemporary Bradel bindings in half fawn marbled sheepskin, smooth spines ruled in gilt with double fillets, marbled paper sides, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, yellow edges, three corners lightly rubbed.

The third and final volume lacking, occasional foxing, two black stains to the lower cover of the first volume.

Very rare first edition, illustrated with two frontispieces, eighteen plates, and a folding map table bound at the end of the second volume.

Scattered foxing.

Half black shagreen bindings, smooth spines tooled in blind with fillets and small ornaments, gilt lettering at the foot of the spines showing some rubbing, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, light rubbing to the extremities, sprinkled edges, contemporary bindings.

Born at Versailles in 1809, Anne Jean-Baptiste Raffenel entered the Naval administration in 1825.

After several voyages, notably to Africa, the West Indies and the United States, he was posted to Senegal and from 1843 explo

First edition of the French translation (cf. Gay 3146).

Our copy is preserved in the original wrappers, with yellow and black marbled covers and a title label pasted at the head of the spine.

Occasional light foxing; a numbering in black ink facing the half-title.

First edition.

Small losses to the head and tail of the spine, tears to one joint and to the spine neatly restored, a stain at the foot of the upper cover, slight corner losses to the boards; a clean and attractive copy internally.

At the head of the upper cover, an autograph presentation inscription by Édouard Maurel to a colleague.

Second edition, in large part original as it is substantially enlarged (Tulard, 876, for the editions of 1814 and 1818).

Our copy remains sewn in the original plain temporary wrappers.

Backstrips slightly split, a few scattered spots of foxing.

The first volume is illustrated with 4 plates outside the text (including a frontispiece and a folding plan), together with 5 folding tables; the second with 2 engraved plates, one folding table, and, at the end of the volume, a further large folding plan.

This very scarce work expands upon a pamphlet first issued in 1814 (Moscou avant et après l’incendie), devoted chiefly to the burning of Moscow in 1812, of wh

First edition of the illustrated French translation, with 2 maps (one folding), in-text figures, and 5 steel-engraved plates by Fauchery (see Chadenat 2669. Borba de Moraes does not mention the very brief passage devoted to the Rio stage of the journey (see volume III, p. 381), which is in fact rather insignificant).

Some foxing.

Contemporary romantic bindings in aubergine half sheep, smooth spines faded and decorated with gilt romantic arabesques, light wear to the headcaps, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, armorial bookplates pasted to the pastedowns, speckled edges.

The English traveller Richard Lander [1804–1834], originally trained as a pri

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 Marc-

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.

Numero

First edition illustrated with a folding map and a folding plate of fossils (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 486a).

Light waterstaining affecting the plate and the map at the end of the volume.

The palaeontologist Eugène Eudes-Deslongchamps (1830–1889) devoted most of his work to Normandy, his native region, but he also produced geological monographs based on collections assembled by other researchers, as is the case here.

Rare first edition, printed in small numbers, of this Extrait du Bulletin de la Société de Géographie, 2e série, tome XI, illustrated with two folding plates showing topographical cross-sections of various valleys, including that of the Jordan (cf. Hage Chahine, 471; Numa Broc, Asie, pp. 28–29).

Half tan calf, smooth spine gilt-ruled and tooled, some rubbing to the spine, one joint restored at the head, green morocco lettering-piece, marbled boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, red edges; a contemporary binding.

An orientalist and archaeologist, the Comte de Bertou explored Palestine in 1838 with the mission of verifying the hypothesis of an ancient outflow fro

Rare first edition of the illustrated French translation, complete with two folding maps of Northern Asia, one showing the region at the time of the conquests of Genghis Khan (or Zingis-Chan), the other representing the contemporary state of Asia (cf. Brunet, I, 19; Chadenat, 1782).

Translated from the Tartar manuscript of Abulgasi-Bayadur-Chan and enriched with a large number of authentic and highly curious remarks on the true present state of Northern Asia, together with the necessary geographical maps. By D***. Leiden, Abram Kallewier, 1726.

Contemporary full brown calf bindings, spines with five raised bands highlighted by gilt rules and decorated with gilt compartments fi

First French edition, complete with its engraved plate at the end of the volume: "Air mauresque" (see Gay 1352).

Bookseller’s resale label from the antiquarian bookseller Challamel affixed to the foot of the title page.

Bound in contemporary half brown calf, smooth spine with gilt and blind tooling, black morocco title and date labels, some rubbing to the spine, marbled paper boards, handmade laid paper endleaves and pastedowns, speckled edges, corners slightly worn, upper corner missing on one, binding slightly later.

Some foxing, dampstaining affecting the lower margin of the first 70 leaves.

The work was first published in London in 1811 under the title:

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 conten

First edition illustrated with 24 colour figures mounted within the text.

No copy recorded in the CCFr.

Occasional light foxing.

Publisher’s original full lemon-yellow percaline, smooth spine, upper cover decorated in red, minor spotting to the boards.

Pleasing album devoted to the monuments of ancient China, then undergoing rapid transformation at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The text was set before the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and the Great War.

On the half-title, this copy is enriched with a long dated autograph inscription by the American singer and society figure Tryphosa Bates-Batcheller (1876–1952) to Henry de Galard de Brass

First edition of the first and only published part, illustrated with figures in the text and one plate printed separately as a frontispiece.

This is an offprint from the Revue archéologique.

The sole and uncommon edition of this essay exploring a possible Far Eastern influence on Amerindian civilizations.

Gustave d'Eichthal (1804-1886), a Saint-Simonian, was born into a German Jewish family but converted to Catholicism at the age of thirteen; he notably contributed to the emergence of new social sciences such as ethnology and anthropology.

Unbound copy, a few minor spots of foxing.

At the head of the half-title page, an autograph inscription signed by

First edition printed in a small number of copies of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société des antiquaires de France, vol. XX.

The work is illustrated at the beginning of the volume with two folding plates engraved by Charles Oury after drawings by Delamare, gathering several figures.

Contemporary half black shagreen, spine with four raised bands decorated with blind fillets and gilt fleurons, minor rubbing to the joints, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, speckled edges, contemporary binding.

Foxing.

A former student of the École Polytechnique and an officer, Delamarre (1793-1861), who adopts a particle on the title-page for greater distinct

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 P

First edition, illustrated with 32 color illustrations by Sureda and engraved by Aubert (full-page, headpieces and fine lettering), many of which are enhanced in gold or silver ink.

Limited edition of 400 copies. This one, marked H. C. V, is one of the rare first paper copies on the finest Japon (only 15 copies), containing every engraving in double state on Vieux Japon and Japon Impérial of all the woodcuts, covers and spine.

 
Signed and inscribed on the title page from the authors: "What a pleasure it is for you, O reader, if you enjoy La Fête arabe !" Jérôme and Jean Tharaud. December 1928."