Voyage a Buénos-Ayres et a Porto-Alègre, par Banda-Oriental, les missions d'Uraguay et . . . Rio Grande-do-Sul
Author: Arsène Isabelle (1795-1879)
Year: 1835
Publisher: Imprimerie de J. Morlent
Place: Havre
Description:
618+[4] pages with frontispiece, half title, list of subscribers, errata, lithograph plates and folding map. Royal octavo (9 1/2" x 6 1/4") bound in later quarter morocco with gilt lettering to brown label on spine over marbled boards. (Borba de Moraes, page I:420. Palau 121758; Sabin 35239) First edition.
Arsène Isabelle was French businessman, traveler and naturalist. Having decided to pursue a desire to see the world, Isabelle left France in 1829 bound for South America. He arrived in Montevideo in February 1830 and crossed over to Buenos Aires before long. He had brought with him a range of goods to sell, but did not make a great profit from them largely because Argentina was embroiled in revolution at that time. Instead he established a candle factory, which he ran for three years before setting off on his journey proper, travelling through the Uruguayan missions and visiting Porto Allegre in the Brazilian province of Rio Grande do Sul. He also entered the German colony of San Leopoldo and traveled north of Porto Allegre to Sao Francisco de Paula, collecting plants in many places. Isabelle published an account of his journey in 1835 (Voyage à Buenos-Ayres et à Porto-Alegre, par la Banda Oriental) Travels in Argentina, Uruguay, and Brazil, with commentary on trade with France. The plants he had collected were distributed to several herbaria including that of Benjamin Delessert in Paris and the National Museum of Natural History in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Condition:
Moderate wear; hinges split, foxing, corners bumped, shelf wear else about very good.
