THE FIRST PUBLISHED COMPLETE AND FULLY DETAILED MAPPING OF AUSTRALIA

PÉRON, FRANCOIS & LOUIS FREYCINET, CHARLES ALEXANDRE LESUEUR & NICOLAS-MARTIN PETIT.

Voyage de découvertes aux terres Australes. Exécuté par ordre de sa Majesté l'Empereur et Roi, Sur les Corvettes le Géographe, la Naturaliste, et la Goelette le Casuarina, Pendant les Anées 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804. [Historique] Rédigé en partie par seu F. Péron, (vol. 2:) et continué Par M. Louis Freycinet. 2 vols. (text) + Atlas par Mm. Lesueur et Petit. 2 parties. + Navigation & Geographie. Publié par ordre de son excellence le Ministre de la Marine et des Colonies; et Rédigé Par Louis Freycinet. 1 vol. (text) + Atlas. Rédigée par Louis Freycinet.

Paris, 1807-1816 (Historique) & 1815 + 1812 (Navigation & Geographie).

4to & folio. Three text-volumes in 4to and three atlas, two in small folios, one (Navigation & Géographie) in elephant folio. All bound in nice contemporary brown half calfs with gilt spines. The first four (i.e. Historique-section) are uniform. The Navigation & Géographie-part with some brownspotting, the text-voume has been re-enforced at front hinge and corners and extremities are worn. There's a repaired tear to one of the maps. The Historique-section is generally very nice, clean, and fresh. Vil. I of the atlas has a torn lower back hinge, but no loss. A very nice set in strictly contemporaru bindings, with the tissue-guards, and FULLY COMPLETE WITH ALL 40 ETHNOLOGICAL AND ZOOLOGICAL PLATES, MOSTLY COLOURED, ALL 46 MAPS, BOTH TABLES, AND THE FRONTISPIECE PORTRAIT.

Historique:
Text: XXXI, (1), 471 pp. + engraved frontispiece-portrait + two folded tables; (4), XV, (1), 496, (2, -errata), III (contents) pp.
Atlas: (vol. I, plates:) (6) pp. + 40 plates (numbered 2-41 NB. plate I of the the map-volume constitutes also nr. I of the plate-volume - as always (see also Ferguson) ); (vol. II, maps:) 6 pp. + 14 maps, two of which are folded.

Navigation & Géographie:
Text: XVI, 576, (2, -errata) pp.
Atlas: (2) ff. + 32 maps, 25 of which are double-page, 7 single.

Rare fully complete copy, with both the History- and Navigation&Geography- parts of one the most important and famous descriptions of Australia ever published. One of the maps included constitutes the first published map to show the entire South Australian coastline.

In April 1802, the British navigator Matthew Flinders and his French counterpart Nicolas Baudin met at Encounter Bay. Both men had been sent out by their respective governments to chart and explore the unknown southern coast of Australia. Between them, Flinders and Baudin explored, mapped and named most of the 3,700 kilometres from Ceduna on the west coast to Robe in the southeast, known in 1802 as "the unknown coast".

Although Flinders in fact beat Baudin to "the unknown coast", the famous French account was published first and thus constitutes not only the first full description of the continent of Australia, but also contains the first published complete and fully detailed map of Australia.

"In October 1800, Nicolas Baudin commanded an expedition to the south seas to complete the French survey of the Australian coastline, and make scientific observations. The two ships, "Le Geographe and Le Naturaliste", arrived near Cape Leeuwin in May 1801. Following instructions issued in France, both ships sailed north along the western coast of the continent. After staying at Timor, the French then sailed south to survey Van Diemen's Land [Tasmania]. In following this itinerary, they missed the opportunity to be the first Europeans to survey the unknown southern coast.
By early April 1802 Baudin in "Le Geographe" was in South Australian waters. He sailed westwards along the southern coastline, meeting Flinders at Encounter Bay, and continuing to Golfe de la Mauvaise [Gulf St Vincent] and Golfe de la Melomanie [Spencer Gulf], giving French names to many locations already named by Flinders. At Cape Adieu the survey was abandoned and Baudin sailed for Port Jackson where "Le Naturaliste" had already arrived.

After wintering at Port Jackson, Baudin returned to the southern coast for a more detailed survey, and in January 1803 circumnavigated Ile Borda [Kangaroo Island]. While Baudin anchored at Nepean Bay, Freycinet and the geographer Boullanger explored the two gulfs in "Casuarina" - "Le Naturaliste" had been sent back to France with its scientific collections. By the end of February "Le Geographe" and "Casuarina" rendezvoused at King George Sound, and then explored the west and northwest coasts of 'New Holland', before heading home via Timor.

Baudin died in 1803 on the homeward voyage, so publication of the account and charts of his voyage was undertaken by Francois Peron, the expedition's naturalist. The first volume of "Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes" and Volume I of "Atlas", which included plates, was released in 1807. French place names were recorded for 'Terre Napoleon' west of Wilson's Promontory. As Peron died in 1810, cartographer Louis de Freycinet continued to edit the voyage's account, and in 1811 he published the second part of "Atlas", which featured the charts of the expedition, again recording French place names on 'Terre Napoleon.'
The French expedition's charts were published in 1811 - three years before Flinders'. Freycinet's "Carte General de la Nouvelle Hollande" was therefore the first chart of Australia, bringing together the results of English and French surveys. The French charts are generally acknowledged as beautiful with their elaborate title cartouches with flora and fauna.
...
In the end, claims of 'primacy' - or who was where first - were what mattered most to the authorities and to Flinders. With the French charts published first, with French names along the length of the South Australian coast, they laid a claim to that portion of the continent and called it "Terre Napoleon". When Flinders' charts were finally published in July 1814, he was scrupulous in honouring prior discoveries on the coast - hence 'Discovered by Nuyts 1627' and 'Discovered by Captn. Baudin 1802', which marked the western and eastern limits of his discoveries.

It was not until the second edition of Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes was published in 1824 that French place names were only recorded where the French had been the first to survey along the southern coast, mainly in the south-east and on the southern coast of Kangaroo Island, and Flinders' discoveries and place names were restored by the French authorities." (State Library of South Australia).

Apart from the seminal importance to the maps and geographical information of this celebrated voyage, it is also famous for its ethnological surveys and natural history specimens. In fact, the expedition brought back to France the most important collection of natural history specimens in the history of the French Museum.

The voyage was commanded by Nicolas Thomas Baudin (1754-1803), who died at Batavia on the way home. The maps in both atlases are mainly by de Freycinet, and the fine illustrations are by Lesueur and Pétit. The plates consist of 5 coloured coastal views, natural history subjects (9 coloured), topographical views, native weapons, canoes, habitations, etc. (some coloured), and 10 portraits (4 coloured) of NAMED Aborigines by Nicolas-Martin Petit (1777-1804). One of the folding topographical views is a fine plate of Sydney by Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846).

Louis de Freycinet:

"With his brother Henri, Louis de Freycinet joined the Baudin expedition as a junior lieutenant. Louis was born in August 1779 and joined the French navy in 1793. His duties on the expedition were as a cartographer-surveyor. While the French expedition was in Sydney from June-November 1802, Baudin bought a locally built schooner the "Casuarina", and placed Freycinet in command. It would be used for close inshore survey work, particularly on the southern Australian coast. While charting the South Australian gulfs, Freycinet missed his rendezvous with Baudin in "Le Geographe", but joined him in King George Sound. They then sailed along the Western Australian coast together, before going to Timor and then Mauritius.

After the expedition's return to France, Freycinet worked on the charts and when the atlas was published in 1811 the entire unknown coast from Wilson's Promontory to the Head of the Bight was shown as Terre Napoleon, with French place names on all the prominent features. Following Péron's early death, Freycinet completed the official account of the expedition.

From 1817 to 1820 Freycinet led a scientific expedition around the world, studying meteorology and magnetism. His wife Rose accompanied him. Despite shipwreck most of the expedition's records were saved.

In 1824 a second edition of the account of the Baudin expedition was published, edited by Freycinet, and in the Atlas Matthew Flinders' place names were restored to the coast he had first discovered.
Louis de Freycinet died in August 1842." (State Library of South Australia).

Ferguson: 449, 536 & 603.

Order-nr.: 53717