"La Pérouses Voyage" to West Coast America & Hawaii 1780s Vol I-III 1st English Edition

"La Pérouse's Voyage" or "A Voyage Round the World, Performed in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788" by Jean François de Galaup de La Perouse. London: J. Johnson, 1798. First English edition preceding Stockdale edition, in three volumes. An official account of the tragic French voyage led by La Pérouse. Edited by M.L.A. Milet-Mureau and translated from French. Octavos, x, (2) (errata), 532; x, 498; viii, 446 plus 60pp of tables at rear. With an engraved frontispiece of Galaup and 41 engraved plates, constituting maps, views, plans, and natural history illustrations. All three have been rebound in brown leather, with gilt lettering at the spine. Toning and foxing throughout, with sound binding. Some small tears to fold-out plates. Overall, very good.

Jean-François de Galaup, comte de La Pérouse (1741 – Ca. 1788) was a French naval officer and navigator who conducted several the wide-ranging explorations in the Pacific Ocean in the mid-1780s. Despite being ill-fated, the expedition was successful in many ways and offers great insight into relations with native civilians. Following the American Revolution and inspired by the explorations of James Cook, La Pérouse was made leader of an expedition of the Pacific, aboard "La Boussole" and "Astrolabe". The expedition set sail from France on August 1, 1785, and traveled around Cape Horn before stopping at Easter Island. They also visited the Sandwich Islands (now Hawaii) and the west coast of North America in search of a Northwest Passage. After leaving this place they headed for the South Sea Islands, the Friendly or Tonga Islands, Norfolk Islands, and the Samoan Islands, where twelve members of the expedition were murdered in December 1787. La Pérouse then set out for Botany Bay in eastern Australia, from which he departed in 1788 and seemingly vanished into thin air. It was not until 1825 that the wreckage of La Perouse's vessel, the Astrolabe, was found on the reefs of Vanikoro, an island to the north of the New Hebrides. It is believed that two ships were caught in a great storm. The remains of the Boussole were finally discovered in 1964.

The original French volumes of La Pérouse were unabridged and contained 69 plates, published in Paris in 1797. Stockdale's edition in two volumes (translated to English) of 1798 reproduced 51 of the total plates, and Johnston's edition of the same year published 42. 

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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