Under the Command of M. De Bougainville, Knight of the Order of St. Lewis, in Order to Form a Settlement There: and of Two Voyages to the Streights of Magellan with an Account of the Patagonians

By Bougainville, M. de and Pernety, Antoine Joseph

London: T. Jefferys. 1771, First English Edition. 4to – 26.8 cm. (6) – incl. instructions to binder, [xvii], 294 pp., (3) – engraved fold-out plates, (2). 16 engraved plates including 6 fold-out maps and one full-page map — complete. Period full-calf with relatively tender, but strong, hinges, old script markings on front and rear cover, spine titles de-bossed and legible with effort, spine tips worn; interior extraordinarily clean with no foxing, pager crisp and with a very pleasing acoustical quality. A clean and complete copy of the narrative describing this important Pacific voyage publication. Rare.

The First English edition of Bougainville’s 1763 very significant private expedition to found a colony on the Falklands, on which Antoine Pernety, a Benedictine monk, sailed as secretary. This account is a translation Pernety’s journals. France named the islands the Malouines for her ships and men that hailed from St. Malo, and Bougainville used that name when he planted the French flag at Port Louis in 1764. Bougainville commissioned the frigate “l’Aigle” and the corvette “le Spinx” to be built for this self-funded expedition. The settlement was protested by Spain, and the French Government surrendered it to them on condition of their indemnifying Bougainville. Commodore Byron of the “Dolphin” repeated the formalities of claiming the islands for Britain the following year by planting her flag at Port Egmont, Falkland Islands. Cox II, p. 282; Hill 1327.

$5500.00 -