VENDU
2 volumes, 8vo (200 x 123 mm) of 432 pp. for volume I; 272 pp, 10 folding engraved plates (numbered 1 to 9, and one without number) for volume II. Green half calf, spine gilt with raised bands, marbled edges (19th century binding).
1 in stock
Chadenat, 655 ; Howgego, P7 ; voir Hill, 1285 (for the English translation of 1791-1792) ; Taillemite, dictionnaire des marins français, p. 257-258.
First edition.
François de Pagès (1740-1792), officer, sailor and adventurer, joined the Marine Guards in 1757 where he served on the Triton in the Mediterranean. He moved to the Souverain in 1759, and in 1765 was on the Gracieuse, where he took part in the bombardment of Larache against privateers. He was struck off the lists in 1767 for having disembarked without permission.
Viscount Pagès then decided to sail around the world. The first volume contains the account of this expedition, first through Louisiana, to New Orleans, on the Mississippi, to Natchitoches, then Mexico, via San Antonio, the Río Bravo, Sartille, Mexico, Chilpancingo ; From Acapulco, he reached the Philippines and Indonesia, visiting Manila, Java and Batavia (Jakarta), then Bombay and Surat in India; he continued through Happy Arabia, Desert Arabia, Persia, Basra, Damascus and Lebanon, before crossing the Mediterranean from Saint-Jean d'Acre to Marseille, stopping off at Rhodes, Malta, Tunis and Sardinia. The second volume tells the story of his polar voyage under the command of Kergueulen to the South Pole in 1773-1774, followed by the second to the North Pole in 1776. One of the plates, drawn by Fossier, shows the butchering of a whale.
"Son Voyage autour du monde présente un intérêt tout particulier en ce qu'il révèle un voyageur cherchant à s'insérer dans les sociétés qu'il visite et annonçant ainsi les ethnologues modernes" (Taillemite). "Pagès' Voyage autour du monde also contains an account of his adventures with the unsuccessful second voyage of Yves-Joseph de Kerguelen-Tremarec toward the South Pole in search of 'Terra Australis Incognita', as well as his experiences on an expedition of a Dutch whaler to Spitzbergen, with a detailed account of whaling and the natural history of the whale" (Howgego).
"The first is Pagès’s account of his adventures during Yves-Joseph Kerguélen-Trémarec’s unsuccessful second voyage to the South Pole in search of Terra Australis Incongnita. On his return to France, Kerguélen was dismissed and imprisoned. Pagès was careful not to mention the name of the captain in his text. In the second narrative, Pagès relates his experiences while on an expedition of a Dutch whaler to Spitzbergen, including a detailed account of whaling and the natural history of the whale" (Hill).
A good, complete copy. Fine restoration to spines.
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