{"product_id":"viaggio-di-la-perouse-intorno-al-mondo","title":"Viaggio di La Perouse intorno al Mondo","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor: \u003c\/b\u003eJean François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741-1788)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eYear: \u003c\/b\u003e1815\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher: \u003c\/b\u003eDalla Tipgrafia Sonzogno e Comp.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePlace: \u003c\/b\u003eMilan\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eDescription:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFour volumes bound in two. xxviii+236+[27] pages with 4 color plates and table; 294+[1] pages with 5 color plates; 271 pages with 3 color plates; 297+ [27] pages with hand-colored plates, appendix and folding map of the world outlined in color. Octavo (6¾x4\") bound in quarter calf over marbled paper boards, gilt lettering to spine. (Ferguson, 609; Forbes, 'Hawaiian National Bibliography', 445; McLaren, 'Lapérouse in the Pacific', 25) First Edition in Italian.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eUncommon first Italian edition of the voyages of La Pérouse, with a series of hand-colored plates based on the original images of Gaspard Duché de Vancy done for the official French edition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \"\u003cem\u003eViaggio di La Pérouse intorno al mondo\u003c\/em\u003e\" is one of the most celebrated and tragic scientific exploration expeditions of the 18th century. Strongly championed by King Louis XVI of France in 1785, the expedition aimed to rival the discoveries of the British explorer James Cook, map new routes in the Pacific, foster trade, and gather valuable scientific data in the spirit of the Enlightenment. Command was entrusted to the experienced navigator Jean-François de Galaup, Count of La Pérouse. Accounts of this extraordinary voyage were subsequently translated into several languages, including Italian (often under the title *\u003cem\u003eViaggio di La Pérouse intorno al mondo\u003c\/em\u003e*, in a translation historically produced by the Chevalier Angelo Petracchi).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOn August 1, 1785, two heavily equipped frigates—the *\u003cem\u003eBoussole\u003c\/em\u003e* and the *\u003cem\u003eAstrolabe\u003c\/em\u003e*—set sail from the port of Brest. On board was an elite crew of approximately 220 men, comprising not only sailors but a veritable traveling scientific academy: astronomers, mathematicians, botanists, geologists, cartographers, and illustrators. Over nearly three years of sailing, the expedition covered staggering distances. They rounded Cape Horn and sailed up the Pacific Ocean, stopping at Chile, Easter Island, and the Hawaiian Islands. They then reached Alaska (where a tragedy near Lituya Bay claimed the lives of 21 sailors) and sailed down the coast of California. They crossed the Pacific to Macau and the Philippines. They explored the seas between China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan, becoming the first to map the strait that today bears La Pérouse's name (located between Sakhalin Island and Hokkaido). They landed in Siberia, where La Pérouse entrusted precious logbooks, maps, and scientific notes to the diplomat Jean-Baptiste de Lesseps, who undertook an overland journey to return them safely to Paris. The expedition then sailed south toward Australia, arriving at Botany Bay in January 1788. After leaving Australia in March 1788, the expedition vanished without a trace.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor decades, La Pérouse's fate remained one of the era's greatest mysteries. It is said that even Louis XVI, on the morning of his execution by guillotine in 1793, asked: \"Is there any news of La Pérouse?\" The mystery was only solved much later: in 1827, merchant captain Peter Dillon discovered artifacts at Vanikoro (in the Solomon Islands). In 1828, French explorer Jules Dumont d'Urville conclusively confirmed that both ships had run aground and been destroyed on the Vanikoro reef during a violent cyclone in 1788. While some of the crew perished immediately in the shipwreck, the survivors built a small vessel from the wreckage of the frigates to seek help, but nothing was ever heard of them again.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBook plate to front past-down. Minor rubbing to boards, some scuffing and wear at top corner of Vol. 1-2; bookplates, some toning and foxing else; very good.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Book Collector, Inc","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46112799621311,"sku":"E0920","price":2300.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0530\/5614\/3551\/files\/italian.jpg?v=1788106226","url":"https:\/\/bookcollectorshop.com\/products\/viaggio-di-la-perouse-intorno-al-mondo","provider":"The Book Collector, Inc","version":"1.0","type":"link"}