PERON F.A. & FREYCINET Voyage de découvertes aux Terres Australes…, sur les Corvettes Le Géographe, Le Naturaliste, et La Goélette, Le Casuarina, pendant les années 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804…, rédigé par M. F. Péron, Naturaliste de l’Expédition.

Ferguson, 536; Hill, 1329.

First edition of the account of Baudin’s important voyage. Baudin died in the course of the voyage: the narrative was begun by Peron, the naturalist, and completed by Freycinet after Peron has also died .

“In 1800 an expedition organized by the Institute of France and placed under the Command of Nicolas Baudin sailed for the South Seas. Their particular instructions were to make a full and minute examination of the Australian coasts, and expecially to explore the southern coasts, ‘where there is supposed to be a strait communicating with the Gulf of Carpentraria, and which subsequently would divide New Holland into two large and almost equal islands’… Péron, the naturalist of the voyage, was able to prepare a huge zoological collection that was known for years for its excellence” (Hill).

The set does not comprise the two volumes on navigation and geography by Freycinet, published from 1812 to 1815. The beautiful plates of the atlas are partly couloured. A fine copy.