Voyage in search of La Pérouse. Performed by order of the Constituent Assembly, during the years 1791, 1792, 1793, and 1794, and drawn up by M. Labillardiere,

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Author: Jacques-Julien Houtou de La Billardière (1755-1834) Year: 1800 Publisher: Printed for John Stockdale and Chez H.J. Jansen Place: London and Paris Description: 2 volumes. xxxii+33-487 pages with engraved plates and folding map ; [3]-344+105+[6 ad] pages with engraved plates. Octavio (8¼ x 5¼"), rebound in modern gilt-ruled full calf, spine tooled in gilt, morocco lettering pieces, marbled endpapers in non-pareil pattern. First English Octavo Edition. Published the same year as the quarto edition. Placed under the orders of Bruny d'Entrecasteaux and Huon de Kermadec , this mission, charged with attempting to find the ships La Boussole and L'Astrolabe , was composed of the flutes La Recherche and L'Espérance , manned by two hundred and nineteen people: La Billardière obtained permission to be part of it. Labillardière's 'Relation du Voyage à la Recherche de La Pérouse ' [1800] is a personal account of an attempt to solve a mystery which began in March 1788. After a five week sojourn following up on James Cook's discoveries, investigating reports of a new British colony and undertaking scientific work the French explorer Jean-François Galaup de La Pérouse sailed out of Botany Bay, New South Wales, and was never seen again by Europeans. His disappearance was a matter of great national concern in France. Just before mounting the scaffold of the guillotine, Louis XVI is said to have asked 'Is there any news of M. de La Pérouse?' In 1791, when the French National Assembly dec

• Binding: Hardcover

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