PERON, Francois

Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands by Francois Peron. Volume I (Books I-III). [Together with] Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands by Francois Peron. Continued by Louis de Freycinet. Second Edition, 1824. Book IV, comprising Chapters XXII to XXXIV. [Both volumes] Translated from the French by Christine Cornell... Introduction by Anthony Brown. [Together with] Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands by Francois Peron. An Historical Record. Atlas by MM. Lesueur and Petit. Second edition. Translations from the French by Peter Hambly. Introduction by Sarah Thomas...

Adelaide, Friends of the State Library of South Australia, August 2006/ 1809 (Volume I); October 2003 (Volume II - first edition in English); and 2008 (the atlas).

Octavo, two volumes (the text) and folio (the atlas), xxxviii, 278 pages plus 11 plates (9 in colour) and 3 maps (including a large folding map in an endpocket and a double-page folding map, '"La Geographe" in Australian Waters', new to this edition); lxxxiv, 430 pages with a frontispiece, 6 colour plates, 6 illustrations and 2 maps (including a folding map in an endpocket; and xx pages (a four-page introduction and translations into English of all French text in the original) plus a facsimile reprint of the original atlas, containing 68 plates (including 9 maps and 27 plates in colour).

Uniform blind-pictorial cloth lettered in gilt on the spines; spine of the first volume lighty sunned; front cover of the atlas lightly marked and scuffed; an excellent set (internally as-new).

The publisher's prospectus had this to say about Volume I: 'This new translation by Christine Cornell ... complements her acclaimed translation of Volume II, published by the Friends in 2003. The French original was first published in 1807, followed in 1824 by a second edition, from which this translation was made. Previous English translations (both abridged) appeared in England in 1809 and 1812. Volume I covers the voyage out (1800-02), and vividly describes the expedition's discoveries in Western Australia and Tasmania, as well as its visits to Timor and Sydney'. The second volume was described thus: 'This is the first appearance in English of Volume II (Book IV) of "Voyage of Discovery to the Southern Lands" ("Voyage de decouvertes aux terres australes") ... Peron was the zoologist on the "Geographe" when Baudin met Flinders at Encounter Bay in 1802. Freycinet was the expedition's cartographer. The book ... describes in rich detail discoveries on King Island, Kangaroo Island and the coast of Western Australia as well as visits to Timor and southern Africa'. Only 400 copies of each text volume were produced (with the first 99 bound in quarter calf). [3 items].

Item #122365

Sold