8vo. Volume I: vii, [1], 280 pp., / Volume II: 380 pp.,+ [7], half-titles, 2 steel folding engraved maps, 1 steel engraved plate by Pierre-Philippe Choffard, contemporary full calf, decorated floral spine, marbled endpaper, book plate D. Pauli Peyron verso front covers, all edges red, small inner marginal tear to plate at the fold without affecting the image, otherwise set clean and in very good condition, l'Imprimerie Royale, Paris, first edition, 1790.

Synopsis

First French edition. Another English edition appeared the same year. De Lesseps was an interpreter from Russian to French on the famous 18th century French scientific expeditions under the command of La Pérouse. He describes his most difficult travels in Kamtschatka, before returning to Europe. He carried La Pérouse’s journal and maps of the first half of the ill-fated expedition. Volume two contains a “Vocabulary of the Kamtschadale, Koriac, Tchouktchi, and Lamout languages”.
Bibliographic references: Brunet, III, 1016; Bouchet de la Richarderie, V, 457; Chadenat 1152; Hill 1010; Kroepelien 723; Sabin, 40208.