[MARCHAND, Etienne (1755-1793)]. FLEURIEU, Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de (1738-1810). Voyage Autour Du Monde, pendant les années 1790, 1791, et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recherches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween. Paris: Imprimerie de la République, 1798-1800.
[MARCHAND, Etienne (1755-1793)]. FLEURIEU, Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de (1738-1810). Voyage Autour Du Monde, pendant les années 1790, 1791, et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recherches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween. Paris: Imprimerie de la République, 1798-1800.

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[MARCHAND, Etienne (1755-1793)]. FLEURIEU, Charles Pierre Claret, Comte de (1738-1810). Voyage Autour Du Monde, pendant les années 1790, 1791, et 1792, par Étienne Marchand, précédé d'une introduction historique; auquel on a joint des recherches sur les terres Australes de Drake, et un examen critique du voyage de Roggeween. Paris: Imprimerie de la République, 1798-1800.

4 volumes, 4° (262 x 200 mm). Folding table in vol.I, engraved plate, one large engraved folding world map and 14 engraved folding maps and charts in vol. IV. (Occasional light spotting, plate XII with a 2-in. tear at gutter crossing the border and background.) 19th-century quarter morocco, marbled boards (some light wear).

FIRST EDITION, A FINE SET OF THIS IMPORTANT ACCOUNT OF THE SECOND FRENCH CIRCUMNAVIGATION, the first French commercial voyage to the Pacific Northwest. The preferred quarto edition of this "very important and authorative work for the history of the northwest coast" (Lada-Mocarski) was issued in two forms: "Simultaneously with this quarto edition there appeared an octavo edition with a quarto atlas. The all-quarto edition... is to be preferred" (Lada-Mocarski). Marchand, commander of the voyage, had learned of the lucrative potential for the fur trade in that region from the British captain, Portlock. He sailed via Cape Horn, stopped at the Marquesas, and traded along the Northwest Coast in the summer of 1791. He gives detailed descriptions of Norfolk Sound and Sitka, followed by a particularly detailed account of the Queen Charlotte Islands, and further explorations as far as the southern end of Vancouver island. From North America Marchand sailed to Hawaii and then on to Macao, where he failed to sell his valuable cargo of furs. He then returned to France, where the Revolutionary government confiscated his cargo. The voyage was a loss for its investors, Marchand died in 1793, and Count Fleurieu, himself an experienced Pacific explorer, took over the editing and publication of the material from the voyage, as well as adding an authoritative history of exploration en route. The detailed maps are of Alaska and the Northwest Coast, the Marquesas, and Hawaii. Forbes 292; Hill 612; Howes F-195; Lada-Mocarski 54; Wagner Northwest Coast I:212; Wickersham 6622. See Sabin 24751 (octavo edition).

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