DALRYMPLE Alexander Voyages dans la Mer du Sud par les Espagnols et les Hollandois.

Sabin, 18344.

First edition of the French translation by Anne-François-Joachim de Fréville.

“Dalrymple was the first critical editor of discoveries in Australasia and Polynesia… An Avid mercantilist, [he] theorized that the unexploited lands of the South Pacific would serve to augment England’s expanding trade” (Hill).

During his travels, Dalrymple discovered the manuscript of Luis Vaez de Torres in Manila and later named the Torres Strait after him. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1767, Dalrymple continued his research into the history of the Pacific and, before Cook, suspected the existence of an immense continent in the southern hemisphere.

“Convinced of the notion of an immense continent lying south of 28°-40°S and occupying at least 100 degrees of longitude, Dalrymple argued for the despatch of expeditions to locate that unseen ‘Terra Australis’, arguing that trade with such an immense continent would be worth more than that of the Americas” (Howgego).

The three maps depict Carte de la partie méridionale de la Mer du Sud; Copie d’une carte de Dampier, and Carte de la terre des Papous. A very fine copy.