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 (pour l’édition originale de 1779).

Première édition de la traduction française du célèbre voyage de Thomas Forrest (1729?-1802?) aux Moluques.

Les pages 443 à 458 contiennent le vocabulaire de la langue Magindano aux Philippines. Marin et hydrographe Forrest fut employée par la Compagnie des Indes Anglaise et servit sous les commandes de l’amiral Pocock pendant les confrontations entre les Anglais et les Français au Bengale.

“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).

Bon exemplaire, dos restauré et remonté.