Bougainville

1773 · 4504180 — Neuchâtel: Société Thypographique sic 1773. In fine original condition. Two volumes in one small octavo; a fine copy in an attractive contemporary binding of marbled calf sides bordered in gilt the flat spine ornately gilt with a repeating drawer-handle design. <p><p>A most attractive copy of the Neuchâtel version of the official account of the Bougainville voyage based on the first French edition of 1771. This was the first official French circumnavigation and in many ways the most consequential of all the many French voyages into the Pacific commemorated on today's maps by a multitude of geographical names. Bougainville's description of his travels in the Pacific created enormous interest in France and was largely responsible for building up the romantic vision of a South Sea paradise where Rousseau's noble savage lived in a state of blissful innocence.</p> <p>Bougainville's expedition passed through the Straits of Magellan in January 1768. After some time looking for the mythical "Davis Land" said to be off the Chilean coast they started on a direct route across the Pacific. They discovered the Tuamotus sighted Tahiti in April then visited Samoa sailed through Melanesia sighted the Great Barrier Reef and passed through the Solomons and New Britain to Batavia.</p> <p>Bougainville not knowing of Wallis's stop there a year earlier thought that he had discovered Tahiti and his lengthy account of the island group is an interesting counterpart to Wallis's account. The vocabulary of 300 words that he prints is the first such vocabulary to appear of any Polynesian language.</p> <p>Unillustrated this edition is in a much smaller format than the first edition; the addition referred to in the title is a new 22-page dictionary of nautical terms. This version proved popular and was reprinted several times at Neuchâtel. It is quite scarce today: there is no copy in the catalogue of the Hill Collection.</p> </p> . Société Thypographique [sic] unknown