FORREST Thomas Voyage aux Moluques et à la Nouvelle Guinée, fait sur la galère la Tartare en 1774, 1775 & 1776, par ordre de la compagnie angloise.

Chadenat, 571; Howgego, F60 ; voir Hill, 623 (for the first edition 1779).

First edition of the French translation of the famous journey to the Moluccas by Thomas Forrest (1729?-1802?). Pages 443 to 458 with a vocabulary of the Magindano language in the Philippines. Sailor and hydrographer Forrest was employed by the English East India Company and served under Admiral Pocock during the confrontations between the English and French in Bengal.

“In 1770 [Forrest] pioneered the settlement of Balembangan, an island at the northern tip of Borneo. On 9.12.74, Forrest set out from Balembangan, sailing in a native prahu renamed the Tartar, with two companions, towards the Moluccas. I his unlikely craft he pushed further east than any of his company predecessors, eventually reaching Geelvinks Bay on the north coast of New Guinea (=Irian Jaya). There he found one of the few nutmeg forests not under the control of the Dutch. After exploring the Gilolo Pasage between New Guinea and the Moluccas, he sailed to Mindanao… On his return to Borneo, Forrest had discovered that the Balembangan settlers had moved after losing their island. he therefore proceeded to the Malay peninsula, where at Kedah, in 1776, the 4000-mile odyssey of the Tartar ended” (Howgego).

Good copy.