Beschreibung:

FREYCINET, Louis-Claude de Saulces de (1779-1842). Voyage autour du Monde...éxécuté sur les corvettes de S. M. l'Uranie et la Phisicienne, pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820 . Paris: Imprimerie Royale for Pillet aîné, 1824-1837. Very rare complete set of the official account of Freycinet's voyage of scientific exploration: one of the most important French 19th-century circumnavigations of the globe. ‘Complete sets are of the greatest rarity’ (Wantrup, p.159). In 1800-1804, under Napoleon's sponsorship, Freycinet sailed to the Pacific in 1800-1804 with Captain Nicolas Baudin, and had explored the western seaboard of Australia, Tasmania and Timor. With the Bourbon dynasty now restored, Frecyinet was given the command of his own voyage of exploration in order show the French flag and undertake a major series of scientific observations. The Uranie entered the Pacific from the West, visiting western Australia, Timor, New Guinea, the Mariana Islands, Caroline Islands, Hawaii, New South Wales, New Zealand, and then back to the Atlantic via Tierra del Fuego, before becoming shipwrecked in the Falkland Islands. There, Freycinet purchased the American ship Mercury , renamed the Physicienne , and returned to Le Havre via Montevideo and Rio de Janeiro. Jacques Arago (see lot 194) served as the expedition's artist, while Louis Isidore Duperrey (see lot 178) was second-in-command. Extraordinarily, Freycinet's wife, Rose, could not bear to separated from her husband, and was smuggled on board the Uranie . Her presence was only revealed to the crew after the ship was well out of sight of the French coast, and although the crew were uncomfortable with her presence, she completed the voyage. Her journal of her time onboard was only published a century later, in 1927. BM(NH) II, 606; Borba de Moraes I, 327-8; Brunet II, 1392; Ferguson 941; Fine Bird Books (1990) pp.96-7; Forbes pp.420-423; Headland p.109; Nissen ZBI 1425; Sabin 25916; Spence 479; Whittell p.260; Wood 349. A complete set of 13 volumes, quarto and folio, bound in contemporary quarter calf, gilt spines ( Historique and Zoologie atlas volumes in modern bindings to style). Provenance : Royal presentation copy (presentation gilt lettering on upper covers to:) – Capitaine de corvette H. Paquet. Comprising the Historique , Zoologie , Botanique , Navigation and Hydrographie thus: Voyage autour du Monde... Historique . Paris: 1825-1827-1839. Text comprising 2 vols. in five parts bound in 3 [vol.I, parts 1-2, vol.II, parts 1-3], quarto (290 x 220mm), and atlas, folio (490 x 330mm). Text: half-titles, 3 titles each with wood-engraved vignette. 1 coloured plate (without part titles, faint spots). Contemporary quarter calf. Atlas: engraved title with integral vignette, 112 engraved maps, plans, views and plates (comprising 12 maps or plans, 1 of which double-page and 1 folding, both of these with routes marked in colour by hand; 100 views, portraits and plates, of which 41 hand-coloured or printed in colour and finished by hand, after Freycinet, J. Arago, A. Pellion and others, by Desaulx, E. Aubert, Chaselat and others. Modern binding uniform to style, closely matching the rest of the set. Subjects include portraits, scenes from the indigenous peoples' daily life, views, maps and town plans. QUOY, Jean R.C. and Joseph P. GAIMARD. Zoologie . Paris: 1824. Quarto text vol. (290 x 220mm), and atlas, folio (500 x 330mm). Text: half-title, title with wood-engraved vignette (faint spots). Contemporary quarter calf. Atlas: engraved title, 96 engraved plates, of which 77 handcoloured or printed in colour and finished by hand, after Chazal, A. Prevost, Huet, Taunay, P. Oudart and others, by Coutant and others (a few marginal waterstains and faint spots). Modern binding uniform to style, closely matching the rest of the set. The subjects include 27 birds, all coloured, 23 fish, most coloured, crustaceans, mammals, insects and others. GAUDICHAUD, Charles. Botanique . Paris: 1826. 2 volu