VENDU
3 volumes of text 8vo (202 x 125 mm) of 2 unn.l., XXXI, 328 pp., 1 plate out of text (medal) for volume I; 2 unn.l. and 380 pp. for volume II; 2 unn.l. and 272 pp. for volume III; and 1 large 4to atlas (350 x 260 mm) of 2 unn.l. (lithographed title and table), 1 large map and 20 plates of which 13 in colour. Havana half-sheep, flat spines decorated with gilt friezes, speckled edges (contemporary binding for the text, atlas bound in style).
1 in stock
Gay, 3071 ; Numa Broc, 118.
First edition.
This account of his travels in northern Angola and the Congo Basin was "a great success with a public fond of exoticism and piquant anecdotes but repelled by geography" and provoked a memorable scholarly dispute that has lasted to the present day. How far did Douville go in telling the truth? This former seminarian, born in Hambye (Normandy) in 1797, made his fortune in England as a merchant, then travelled to Asia and South America (notably Brazil) before setting sail for Africa in 1817.
"Malheureusement, dit Numa Broc, Douville n'a rien d'un géographe et il est difficile de suivre ses itinéraires sur une carte moderne… On peut penser que de Benguella, il a gagné Loanda en suivant la côte ; il a ensuite remonté le fleuve Kouanza (…) jusqu'à Kassouga aux confins de l'actuel Zaïre. De là, il a descendu la rivière Kouango jusqu'à son confluent avec le Kasaï. A-t-il poussé vers le nord jusqu'au grand lac Léopold II, qu'il appelle lac Couffoua ou lac des Morts ? Il est de retour à Ambriz, sur l'Atlantique, au nord de Loanda en mai ou juin 1830… Si Douville dit vrai, il serait le premier Européen (à l'exception des chasseurs d'esclaves) qui ait réussi à pénétrer aussi profondément dans le bassin du Congo".
The veracity of these accounts was challenged as early as 1832 by the English geographer Cooley, who claimed that Douville had never gone beyond the African coast, and that he had borrowed his account from Portuguese merchants and slave traders… Back in Brazil, Douville devoted himself to the local flora and fauna: his collections formed the first nucleus of the Bahia Museum of Natural History. He is thought to have been murdered on the banks of the Rio São Francisco in 1837.
The lithographed illustrations include a large folded map and 20 plates, 13 of which are in colour: African types, funerary festivities, human sacrifice, views, etc. The frontispiece of volume I shows the gold medal awarded to the author by the Geographical Society in 1831. Some foxing, circular stain on four plates of the atlas, pleasant copy however.
Bookplates Lebaudy: "La Solitude" (Château de Rosny), and Paul Lebaudy.
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