Beschreibung:

GARNIER, Francis (1839-1873) and Ernest DOUDART DE LAGRÉE (1823-1868). Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine effectué pendant les années 1866, 1867 et 1868 par une Commission Française . Paris: Hachette, 1873 [-1875]. First edition of one of the most beautifully illustrated books on Indo-China . Garnier served with the French navy in the Far East in 1859, as part of Admiral Charner’s forces fighting the Vietnamese in the Mekong delta. There, he formed the idea of exploring the Mekong as a way of opening up French colonisation of the area, with the prospect of commercial access from French territory to China and its fabled markets, in direct challenge to British imperial ambition in south-east Asia. Garnier sought, and received, the support in this endeavour of the Minister of the Marine and Colonies, Marquis de Chasseloup-Laubat, as well as the Governor General and commander of the Cochinchina naval station, Admiral Pierre-Paul de La Grandière. However, La Grandière thought Garnier too young and inexperienced to be in command, and the chief authority was given to Captain Doudart de Lagrée. The expedition left Saigon on 5 June 1866, but, with the discovery on 18 August of the 20 metre-high Khone Falls, the prospect of using the Mekong as a navigable trade route evaporated. Undeterred, the expedition split into different parties, exploring to the east and west (including Angkor Wat) throughout the following months, before reuniting and heading northwards, reaching Vientiane on 4 April 1867, and then Luang Prabang, capital of Laos, on 29 April. Lagrée at this point wanted to abandon the expedition due to political uncertainty in the region, but Garnier persisted, and they headed further up the river, before leaving the Mekong to seek the Red River overland. The expedition reached Yuan-chiang on the river on 17 November. Again, Lagrée wanted to take the expedition back to the South China Sea down the Red River, but once more the junior Garnier won him over, and the expedition again turned north, entering China, and reaching Kunming on 23 December. At the suggestion of French missionaries, the expedition continued north to Huitse, where Lagrée fell ill. Leaving the senior officer there, Garnier led a detachment to Talifu, the capital of Sultan Suleiman, leader of the Yunnan rebels. Upon his return to Huitse, Garnier found that Lagrée had died. Having exumed his body, Garnier led the party down the Yangtze River to the Chinese coast, and thence, by way of Ipin, Hankow and Shanghai, back to Saigon where Lagrée was buried. The expedition covered over 6000 kilometres of previously unmapped terrain, and traced the course of the Mekong as far as Keng Hung. Although it had shown the Mekong was not a viable trading route, it now offered the Red River as a new prospect, and French imperial efforts concentrated extending colonial rule northwards from Cochin China. Cordier Sinica 329; Howgego 1850-1940 Continental Exploration G4 (omitting atlas volume). 3 volumes, comprising 2 vols quarto text (335 x 254mm) and atlas of plates composed of 2 parts bound in one, folio (498 x 376mm). Text: half-titles, titles printed in red and black, frontispiece portrait, one plate of medals, 12 maps and charts, of which 10 are coloured, numerous text illustrations, mostly wood engravings, many full-page, complete with 2 leaves of errata at the end of both vols dated 1 January 1875 (vol. 1 with faint marginal dampstain at fore-edge corner, showing more heavily in first 50pp., and from p.270 to end, vol. 2 with insignificant marginal spotting to a few leaves at beginning and end). Atlas, part 1: half-title, part-title and list of contents, 10 single-page and 2 double-page maps, 7 single-page and 2 double-page plans, one aerial view, after Doudart de Lagreé, Garnier and L. Delaporte; part 2: half-title, part-title, 7pp. letterpress introduction and explanation of plates, 48 lithographic plates on 40 sheets, of which 8 double-page and 27 single-page tinted or