SOUVENIRS D'UN AVEUGLE. VOYAGE AUTOUR DU MONDE...ENRICHIE DE NOTES SCIENTIFIQUES.
Arago, Jacques Etienne Victor:
Bruxelles: Societe Typographique Belge, 1840. [4],568,[2]pp. plus sixty plates (of sixty-one, some bound out of order). Contemporary half calf and cloth, spine gilt. Edges bit rubbed, occasional light foxing. Minor repairs in margin of two text leaves. Overall very good. First Belgian edition, preceded by the 1839-40 Paris edition. An important narrative of an expedition supported by the French government, written by the expedition's artist. The purpose of the voyage, which was commanded by Freycinet, was to make chronometric and magnetic observations in various latitudes. The voyage included a one-month visit to the Sandwich Islands, with time spent in Hawaii, Maui, and Oahu, as well as visits to Rio de Janeiro, Cape of Good Hope, Montevideo, Mauritius, New South Wales, and the Caroline Islands. "The URANIE, with a crew of 125 men, entered the Pacific from the West to make scientific observations on geography, magnetism, and meteorology. Arago was the artist of the expedition which visited most notably Australia, the Hawaiian Islands, Tonga, and Tierra del Fuego. The original ship, wrecked off the Falkland Islands, was replaced by the PHYSICIENNE which visited Rio de Janeiro...These entertaining letters, written in a lively and witty literary style, provide vivid descriptions of the topography and the inhabitants of the Pacific Islands" - Hill. The many handsome plates add greatly to the ethnographic aspect of the work. This edition is not noted in Sabin. FERGUSON 2906b. HILL 30 (ref). FORBES HAWAII 1191.
(Item ID: WRCAM24600) $500.00