VIAGGIO DI LA PÉROUSE INTORNO AL MONDO, Tradotto dal Cav. Angelo Petracchi...

Milano: Dalla Tipografia Sonzogno e Comp., 1815.. Four volumes. xviii,236,[26]; 296; 272; iv,298,[28]pp., plus frontispiece portrait, sixteen handcolored plates, folding map in volume four (handcolored in outline), and laid-in publisher's notices in volumes three and four. 12mo. Original pictorial wrappers. Minor soiling to wrappers, chip to upper outer corner of front wrapper of first volume, very slight chipping to extremities of spines. Light foxing to first few pages of first volume. An exceptional set. Untrimmed. In individual cloth chemises and cloth slipcase, gilt leather label. The first Italian edition of La Pérouse's monumental journey, here in beautiful original condition, and rarely encountered thus.

"La Pérouse's expedition was one of the most important scientific explorations ever undertaken to the Pacific and the west coast of North America....The charge to the expedition was to examine such parts of the region as had not been explored by Captain Cook; to seek for an interoceanic passage; to make scientific observations on the various countries, peoples, and products; to obtain reliable information about the fur trade and the extent of Spanish settlements in California; and to promote the inducements for French enterprise in that quarter....La Pérouse and his men did important geographical research [including visits to Easter Island, the first on-shore visit to Hawaii by Europeans, Macao, Formosa, the Aleutian Islands, Samoa, Tonga, and Australia]....The voyage also included the first foreign scientific group ever to visit Alta California....La Pérouse sent dispatches back to France from Kamchatka and Botany Bay." - Hill. La Pérouse sent back copies of his journals throughout the journey, both overland across Russia and via British ships met at Botany Bay in the spring of 1788. After he left Australia, his party was never seen again, and it was not until the 1820s that the wrecks of his ships were discovered on a reef in the Santa Cruz group. When it became clear that something had happened to the expedition, a decision was made to publish the journals he had transmitted home.

This first Italian edition, printed in Milan in 1815 as the first in a series of post-Cook voyages published by Sonzogno e Compagni, precedes the first Italian edition of Cook, and is testament to La Pérouse's enduring popularity on the continent. Very rare in any state, this copy is untrimmed and complete in original wrappers. Included is the frontispiece portrait of La Pérouse (often lacking), all sixteen beautiful colored plates, the folding map, subscriber lists in both the first and fourth volumes, and laid-in publisher's circulars in volumes three and four. A beautiful copy of one of the finest narratives of maritime exploration. FORBES 445. FERGUSON 609. McLAREN 25. HOWES L93.