Album pittoresque d’un voyage autour du monde exécuté par ordre du gouvernement français. Gravures dessinées par L’Amiral Paris. [Picturesque Album of a Voyage Around the World Executed by Order of the French Government.] [Engravings drawn by Admiral Paris.]

Description

Original red cloth, with gold and black embossed cover, decoratively lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. pp.[4], 8 (text) describing the illustrations, with view of “Pont de Manille” separately in conservation-passepartout. With a short manuscript inscription by Paris explaining his commission aboard the Artémise, signed and dated 1886. RARE.

The circumnavigation by Admiral Paris in the ‘Artémis’ took place between 1837 and 1840. The engravings from the original drawings after Laplace and others include a wonderful view of Manila, a picturesque Honolulu, a chillingly grim view of the penal colony at Port Arthur (Van Diemen’s Land /Tasmania); and the ‘Artémis’ run aground at Papeete (Tahiti); The introductory text by Henricy places each engraving in the context of the route taken by the ‘Artémis’, which visited Sydney as well as Hobart.
A luxurious large paper reissue of the finely engraved illustrations originally published in the Laplace edition of 1841. Forbes writes: “This is a deluxe limited edition evidently assembled with the aid of Edmond Paris, who had become a distinguished admiral. Some authorities consider the plates better printed in this edition than in the Laplace text. It has always been a very difficult work to obtain and is found in surprisingly few collections of Pacific voyages”.