16 volumes: eleven 8vo, one 4to and four large folio, the atlas volumes with 6 engraved titles, a portrait and 576 plates. Uniformly bound in contemporary red morocco, gilt spines, comprising the Histoire du Voyage, Botanique, Zoologie, Entomologie, Philologie and Hydrographique thus: - Histoire du Voyage. Paris: 1830-1833. 5 text vols, 8vo, and atlas, folio (530 x 348 mm). Text: half-titles, 9 plates (marginal repair in vols. 4 and 5, faint scattered spots). ATLAS: 8pp. letterpress 'Table explicative,' otherwise lithographed or engraved throughout, with one engraved title with vignette, lithographic portrait of Dumont d'Urville, 8 maps (one hand-coloured, 7 double-page), 239 lithographic views, ethnographical portraits and plates, of which 62 coloured, after Louis-Auguste de Sainson, Édouard Paris and Bartélemy Lauvergne (faint scattered spots). The majority of the plates are after de SAINSON, the expedition's official artist or 'Dessinateur', and show ethnological artefacts and portraits, scenes from the daily life of indigenous peoples and views of ports and anchorages, including Sydney, Hobart, Cape Town and Saint Helena. - QUOY, Jean René Constant and Joseph Paul GAIMARD. Zoologie. Paris: 1830-1835-1833. 4 text vols in 3, 8vo, and atlas, folio (530 x 348 mm). Text: 8 lithographic plates (faint scattered spots). Atlas: 7pp. letterpress text, otherwise lithographed or engraved throughout, 204 plates after de Sainson, Jean-Gabriel Prêtre, Nicolas Huet, Alphonse Prévost, Quoy, Antoine-Germain Bévalet and others, the majority hand-coloured (faint scattered spotting and browning). They include 28 plates of mammals, 31 birds, 12 fish, 95 of molluscs, 26 zoophytes and 12 of entomology. - LESSON, Pierre Adolphe and Achille RICHARD. Botanique. Paris: 1832-1834. 2 text vols in 1, 8vo, and atlas, folio (530 x 348 mm). Text: (faint scattered spots). ATLAS: 1p. letterpress 'table des planches,' otherwise engraved throughout, engraved title with vignette, 80 plates after Vauthier or Mme. E. Delile, by Dunaime, Mme. C. Noiret, Mme. Dondey and others (faint scattered spots). - BOISDUVAL, Jean Baptiste Alphonse Déchouffour de. Entomologie. Paris: 1832-1835. 2 text volumes in 1, 8vo. (faint scattered spots.) - Observations Nautiques, Météorologiques, Hydrographiques, et de Physique. Paris: 1833-1834. 4 parts in one text vol., 4to, and atlas in elephant folio (643 x 482 mm). Text: 2 folding tables (faint scattered spots). ATLAS: 45 maps and plans, (faint scattered spots) - DUMONT d'URVILLE, 'Philologie', 1833-34. 2 parts in 1 vol. 8vo (Faint scattered spots.)
Ref. Hill 508 ; Howgego D35 ; Nissen BBI 555; Nissen IVB 752; Nissen ZBI 1199. Extremely rare and desirable set of the first edition of DUMONT d'URVILLE's voyage in the ASTROLABE. This important voyage was one in a great series undertaken by the French government in the late 18th and early 19th centuries for scientific and political purposes. The Astrolabe sailed south, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Port Jackson. Proceeding to NEW ZEALAND, its coast, especially the southern part of Cook Strait, was surveyed with great care. Tonga and parts of the Fiji Archipelago were explored, then New Britain, New Guinea, Amboina, Tasmania, Vanikoro, Guam and Java. The return home was by way of Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. (Hill) These atlases contain what are generally acknowledged to be some of the finest plates ever produced of the natural history, topography, and anthropology of the AUSTRALIA and the South-west Pacific. Most of the fine topographical views are after drawings of the artist Louis Auguste de SAINSON (1800-1874). Jules Dumont d'Urville died in a terrible railway accident in 1842. In better days he was involved in the discovery of the Venus de Milo
