Travel books in Oceania & Pacific Islands: explorers' accounts in Australia and Pacific, Polynesian missions, maps and albums

Rare first edition.

Our copy is presented disbound.

A close associate of Villermé, the economist and demographer Benoiston de Châteauneuf (1776-1856) advocates the adoption in France of measures widely used by Great Britain, whereby common-law convicts were transported overseas both to remove them from the country and to contribute to the settlement and development of the colonies.

In France, the system was ultimately applied only sporadically, and chiefly in Algeria.

First edition, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint of an article from the Bulletins de la Société de Géographie d'Anvers.

Our copy is preserved in its original printed blue wrappers.

A few small marginal losses to the spine and wrappers; internally in very good condition.

This communication by the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs concerns accounts of explorations carried out in New Guinea: by the Italian explorer Luigi Maria D'Albertis in 1877, and by the Anglican missionaries J. Chalmers and Charles Dudfield in 1878.

First edition, illustrated with four tinted plates, including a frontispiece (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, Tahiti, 6452).

Contemporary half plum sheep, the spine faded and decorated with gilt garlands and floral tools, some rubbing to the spine, marbled-paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, a few worn spots along the edges.

Scattered foxing, the plates evenly toned.

The work offers a history of the island, written in the aftermath of its annexation following the cession of his domains by King Pomare V. It provides an overview of the voyages of Quirós, Wallis, Bougainville and Cook, a portrait of Tahitian life a century earlier, and a sketch of the island’s...

Second edition, partly original as it was revised and substantially expanded (cf. Ferguson 7152a; Lacassagne 47).

Half black shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands decorated with gilt rules and double gilt panels, boards framed with a single blind rule over marbled paper, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, sprinkled edges, period bindings.

A few minor spots.

This second edition was issued simultaneously either in a single volume with continuous pagination or in two volumes with separate pagination (our copy, see Ferguson 7152).

Bénigne-Ernest Poret, Marquis de Blosseville (1799–1886), was a legitimist politician and man of letters. He was active in...

First edition (cf. O'Reilly, 2192.)

Modern Bradel binding in brown half-cloth, forest-green morocco lettering-piece, marbled paper boards, beige endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers retained albeit lightly soiled; binding signed by Boichot.

Illustrated with 49 photographic plates hors texte.

"Minutieuse histoire analytico-chronologique des trente premières années de la Calédonie européenne. Il annonçait une suite qui n'a jamais vu le jour" (O'Reilly).

First edition, illustrated at the end of the volume with tables printed on two large folding plates included in the pagination (cf. Ferguson 2165a.)

Contemporary half bordeaux shagreen, the spine very lightly faded, with five raised bands framed by black fillets, marbled-paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers marginally soiled and showing small preserved restorations, edges untrimmed, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Botany Bay, on the eastern coast of Australia, had been chosen in 1787 by the British government as a place of deportation. This study seeks to demonstrate the ineffectiveness of penal colonies at a time when the proposal to...

First octavo edition illustrated with 92 engravings by Benett, including one folding map in colour: this marks the very first use of polychromy in an illustration for a Jules Verne novel.
Publisher’s Hetzel binding "aux deux éléphants" in full red cloth, signed by Lenègre, type 3, upper cover signed by Souze, lower cover Lenègre type “e” as described by Jauzac, original blue endpapers, all edges gilt, publisher’s EL catalogue at rear.
Spine slightly faded as usual, small black marks along the hinges, spine-ends softened as often, a pleasant copy almost free of any foxing.
“Deux ans de vacances” is a Robinson Crusoe-like novel featuring fourteen schoolboys from New Zealand.
...

Second edition, illustrated with 33 plates outside the text, including 23 in black and white, 8 on tinted background, and 2 folding plates in colour (panorama of the city of Ballarat; map of the gold deposits), cf. Ferguson VII, 18716.

No copy recorded in the CCF.

The list of plates, p. xv, mentions only 27, as it groups together the reproductions of documents relating to the 1854 uprising.

Publisher’s binding in full grey cloth, flat spine and covers decorated in black and gilt, headcaps worn, endpapers and pastedowns in brown paper, inner hinges split, slightly shaken copy, a tear with paper loss along the inner hinge of the lower board, some light foxing.

The...

First edition of each of the fascicles.

Half brown sheep binding, spine slightly faded with four raised bands framed by blind fillets and decorated with gilt floral tools, some rubbing to the spine and along the edges of the boards, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, corners rubbed, contemporary binding.

This collection of pamphlets includes: 1) Voyage à Tahiti. n.d., 12 pp. 2) Voyage en Cochinchine. Algiers, Impr. Algérienne, 1923, 20 pp. 3) Dans les mers du sud. Australie, Nouvelle-Calédonie. n.d., 20 pp. 4) L'île Bourbon ou une perle de la mer des Indes. Algiers, Impr. Algérienne, 1923, 16 pp. 5) L'exotisme dans la littérature française. n.d., 16 pp. 6)...

Edition from the year of the original, illustrated with a portrait and 22 plates including 2 maps (cf. Taylor Pacific Bibliography p. 520. Cammack & Saito no. 346. Edridge, Solomon Island Bibliography, p. 250.).

Half purple sheep binding, spine with four raised bands tooled with gilt garlands and decorated double panels, traces of rubbing and restorations to spine and joints, gilt fillet framing the black blind-stamped boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges, contemporary binding.

Pleasant internal condition despite occasional foxing.

First edition, with a folding map at the beginning of the volume (cf. Ferguson 15420).

Half red shagreen binding, spine slightly faded with five raised bands framed with black fillets, marbled paper boards, comb-marbled endpapers and pastedowns, modern binding signed Laurenchet.

Library stamps on the first endpapers and title page, some foxing, bookseller's label affixed at the head of an endpaper.

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, very scarce (see O'Reilly, Nouvelle Calédonie, 175. O'Reilly & Reitman 1246. Ferguson 16990-91. Hill p. 290. Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, III, 2730. Martin, Hawai‘i, p. 48. Jenkins, Bibliography of Whaling, p. 150. Vaucaire p. 259).

Contemporary bindings in red half morocco-grained sheep over marbled boards, spines with four raised bands ruled in black, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, original wrappers preserved (except rear wrapper of vol. I), modern bindings.

Some foxing, mainly at the beginning of the first volume.

The chapter on New Caledonia spans pp. 257 to 350 of volume I; the one on Tahiti covers pp. 177 to 282 of volume II.

The...

First edition of the French translation, illustrated with a folding copper-engraved frontispiece by Bénard: "Mort du Capitaine Cook à Owhy-hée, Fevrier 1779," and a folding map titled "Carte montrant la route suivie par M. Cook… dans son troisième et dernier Voyage."

See O'Reilly and Reitman, 419. See also Hill, p. 253, for the first English edition. Forbes, Hawaiian National Biography, 45.

Contemporary binding in half marbled calf with vellum-tipped corners, spine decorated with gilt floral compartments, red morocco title label, marbled paper boards, red edges.

Restored loss to the title page. The half-title is lacking in our copy; the boards are modern.

"An...

First edition, one of 40 copies printed on pur fil paper, this one numbered 1, the only copies on deluxe paper.

Complete with the folding map at the end of the volume.

A handsome and rare copy, untrimmed, of this work dedicated "To the glory of those who fell and those who prevailed, workers, soldiers, and commanders."

Preface by Marshal Franchet d'Esperey.

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...

Very rare first edition (cf Dunmore, p. 16. Ferguson, 225. Forbes, Hawaiian National Bibliography, 285. Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 397-8. Kroepelien, 283. McLaren, 269. Sabin, 38958. Missing from Negley, Utopian literature, and the Dictionary of literary utopias.)

Binding in full marbled calf, smooth spine adorned with compartments and floral gilt motifs, red morocco title label, gilt roulettes on the headbands (partially faded) and on the edges, binding of the period.

A tear with loss on the spine, small crack at the foot of one joint, rubbing on the joints, some foxing, a moisture stain on the first endpaper fading on the following pages, light halos at...

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 edition, with no deluxe copies issued; one of the review copies.

Spine and covers lightly and marginally sunned, a crease mark to the lower right corner of the rear cover, complete with the publisher's review slip.

Signed presentation copy from Jehan Laurent Gheerbrandt to the writer Jean Henri Guillaumet.

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.

Edition published in the same year as the first edition, with edition statements in each volume.

Contemporary half brown shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black compartments featuring gilt central tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, speckled edges; corners rubbed.

Occasional foxing, with minor nicks to the top edge of one volume.

A handsome copy, attractively bound at the time.

Rare first edition. First volume published on 6 May 1867, the second on 27 July and the third the next year (28 January 1868). All of 18° format are first editions of Verne's novels.

Contemporary brown half shagreen bindings, spines with four raised bands ruled in black and decorated with double black panels featuring central gilt floral tools, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers and pastedowns, two upper corners slightly bumped, speckled edges, contemporary bindings.

A handsome copy attractively housed in its contemporary bindings. In Search of the Castaways is the very first Verne novel to be adapted for the cinema. predating even...

First octavo edition, the second issue following the original quarto published in 1797. Without the atlas. At the end of volume III, tables (68 leaves) of the routes of the Astrolabe and the Boussole.
Contemporary full mottled calf binding. Smooth spine decorated in a grotesque style with lozenges, with roll tooling at head and tail framing the title label. Title and volume labels in black Russia leather. Decorative roll border to the covers. Small loss at the head of volume I, and another at the head of volume IV. Narrow split at the head of volume IV along the upper joint, and at the lower joint of volume I. Upper joints of volumes I and III slightly sunken and somewhat rubbed...

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, printed in a small number of copies, of this offprint from the Mémoires de la Société naturelle des sciences naturelles de Cherbourg, vol. XX (1876).

See O'Reilly, Tahiti, 2693. Only three copies recorded in the CCF (BnF, Aix-Marseille, Cherbourg).

Bradel binding in blue half cloth, smooth spine, long red marbled morocco title label, marbled paper sides, original wrappers preserved, modern signed binding by Boichot.

This pamphlet, which contains a large number of botanical entries on the Marquesas, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, etc., is a continuation of the study entitled Les Plantes alimentaires de l'Océanie (1875).

A...

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.

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.

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.

First separate edition, printed in a small number of copies, taken from the Annales des sciences naturelles; the work was later republished by Baillière in 1876 (cf. O'Reilly, Nouvelle-Calédonie, 608, which records only the periodical publication).

Bradel case-binding in full green paper-covered boards, brown morocco lettering-piece lettered vertically; the original provisional upper wrapper preserved; modern binding.

The issue is illustrated at the end of the volume with an engraved plate.

A clear waterstain in the outer margins of the leaves.

Émile Bescherelle (1828–1903), president of the Société botanique de France, was a leading specialist in...

First edition of this pamphlet, directed in part against Mormonism (cf. Sabin 2797).

Illustrated with a folding lithographed map of the United States, inserted as a plate.

Spine cracked with small losses and tears at the joints; library shelf label pasted at the foot of the upper wrapper; small corner tears to the wrappers.

This booklet also considers the relations between Christians and the indigenous inhabitants, as well as with the African population brought to the United States through the cupidity of the citizens of the Old World. A good copy.

Rare first edition of the French translation of the Journal of the Resolution (London, 1775), illustrated with a large folding copper-engraved map by E. Dussy, issued without legend.

Cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, 380: "Traduction de la relation apocryphe de Marra". See Hill, 60.

Scattered occasional foxing, a few abrasions to the boards.

Contemporary full marbled tan sheep, spine in five raised bands richly decorated with double gilt compartments, gilt fillets to bands partly rubbed, red morocco lettering-piece, gilt decorative tool at foot of spine, gilt rolls to board edges largely rubbed, marbled endpapers, single gilt fillet to edges, corners worn, marbled...

First edition of this literary utopia (cf. Ferguson 3133).

Contemporary half dark green shagreen binding, smooth spine tooled with gilt fillets and foliate scrollwork, gilt volume number at foot, with a few minor areas of rubbing; marbled paper boards, blue paper endpapers and pastedowns, a small loss to one corner of a pastedown, corners bumped.

Spine restored.

First and only edition of this apocryphal voyage, presented as the account of a maidservant accompanying her master through an imagined Australia, envisioned as a new nation spared the vices of the Old World.

Uncommon first edition (cf. O'Reilly & Reitman, 6271: "Travail consciencieux, bien documenté et toujours utile"; Numa Broc, Océanie, pp. 377-380).

Our copy retains the two folding maps bound at the end of the first volume.

The two maps are titled: Carte de l'île Taïti d'après Vilson et les travaux récens de la frégate l'Artémise; Carte de l'archipel Taïti d'après les travaux les plus récens [et] des archipels français dans l'Océanie par Mr Vincendon-Dumoulin, 1844.

Contemporary half bottle-green sheep, spine with five raised bands gilt with scrolling tools and floral ornaments, marbled paper boards, marbled endpapers, spines slightly...

First edition of the French translation. First published in English in 1712 under the title A cruising voyage round the world. Illustrated with 2 engraved titles, 14 engraved plates and 7 maps including 2 large format (Paraguay and Chile - mainland Peru and Brazil and the Land of the Amazons) and a world map.
Bound in full brown sprinkled calf, spine elaborately gilt, gilt roulettes on the edges, all red speckled edges. Expertly restored (corners, upper and lower part of joints). Two small restored tears on the world map, not affecting the image.
Ex-libris in ink "Sr Remy" to the upper left margin of the title-page.
A tear to the world map, not affecting the...

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...

Autograph letter signed by Victor Segalen addressed to Emile Mignard. Four pages written in black ink and blue colored pencil on a double sheet. Cross fold inherent to the sending.

Emile Mignard (1878-1966), also a doctor from Brest, was one of Segalen's closest childhood friends whom he met at the Jesuit college of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Brest. The writer maintained an abundant and regular correspondence with this friend in which he described with humor and intimacy his daily life in the four corners of the globe. It was at Mignard's wedding, on February 15, 1905, that Segalen met his wife, Yvonne Hébert.

A mechanical problem prevents the...

Double autograph letter signed by Victor Segalen to Emile Mignard. Nine pages and a few lines written in black ink on two bifolia and one single leaf. Horizontal folds from mailing.
Emile Mignard (1878-1966), also a physician from Brest, was one of Segalen’s closest childhood friends, whom he met at the Jesuit college Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Brest. The writer maintained with this companion a prolific and steady correspondence in which he described with humor and intimacy his daily life across the globe. It was at Mignard’s wedding, on 15 February 1905, that Segalen first met his future wife, Yvonne Hébert.
Lengthy letter discussing the progress of...

Autograph double letter from Victor Segalen to Emile Mignard. Two pages written in black ink on two leaves. Horizontal folds from mailing, scattered foxing.
Emile Mignard (1878-1966), also a physician from Brest, was one of Segalen’s closest childhood friends, whom he first met at the Jesuit Collège Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Brest. The writer maintained with him a prolific and sustained correspondence in which he described, with humor and intimacy, his daily life across the globe. It was at Mignard’s wedding, on 15 February 1905, that Segalen met his future wife, Yvonne Hébert.

Original color proof of a woodcut inspired by the work of Gauguin and engraved by George-Daniel de Monfreid for a frontispiece project, remaining unpublished, of Victor Segalen's Les Immémoriaux.

Only one other original color proof and one print run, in black and white (see below), are known to date.
Printed in two tones, green and brown, on old Japan and enhanced with gilt painting by the artist.

This engraved woodcut was to illustrate, as a frontispiece, the original edition of Segalen's Les Immémoriaux, an ethnographic novel, directly inspired by his trip to Polynesia following in Gauguin's footsteps. Segalen...