BROSSES Charles de Histoire des Navigations aux Terres Australes contenant ce que l’on sçait des mœurs et des productions des Contrées découvertes jusqu’à ce jour; & où il est traité de l’utilité d’y faire de plus amples découvertes & des moyens d’y former un établissement.

Sabin, 8388; O’Reilly, 93; Hill, pp.34-35.

First edition, the preferred illustrated second issue.

This book is one of the most important general works dealing with early voyages to the Pacific, which aimed to stimulate French discovery and colonisation of the South Seas. It contains an account of all voyages to the South, begining with the second Vespucci expedition of 1502 and going up to 1747, including the voyages of Magellan, Drake, Schouten, Tasman and others.

“This is an extremely important and thorough collection of voyages, and one of the outstanding works relating to the early history of Australasia. It contains an account of all voyages, beginning with the second expedition of Vespucci in 1502 and ending in 1747, in which navigators touched upon the supposed southern continent of Magellania, which is now represented by Australia and some scattered islands in the Antarctic regions. It also contains the voyages of Magellan, Drake, Hawkins, the Nodals, Schouten, Tasman, and others. Seven interesting maps, done by Sur Robert de Vaugondy of the Académie Royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres de Nancy, are inserted at the end of the second volume. The work, originally published anonymously, is divided into three principal parts – Magellanie, Australasie, and Polynesie – and is of special importance because in it de Brosses proposes that France should settle Australia with her foundlings, beggars, and criminals” (Hill).

Copy complete with the often lacking supplementary leaves 437* to 450* in the first volume entitled “Decouvertes des Hollandais dans l’Astralasie”. Illustrated with 7 large folding maps. A fine copy but without the errata leaf mentioned by O’Reilly.