Voyage to Terres Australes, 1800-1804

Peron, François and Freycinet, Louis de. Voyage de decouvertes aux Terres Australes... pendant les annees 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804. Paris, 1807-16. Two volumes quarto text, with portrait of Peron and 2 folding tables, half-titles, and errata leaf in the first volume, and atlas in two parts, large quarto, with engraved titles (the first with vignette view), 2 large folding charts, 24 other maps and plans on 12 sheets and 40 engraved plates, of which 23 are present in two states, coloured and uncoloured, the text volumes uncut in the publisher's speckled wrappers with printed spine labels (spines faded), the two parts of the atlas each in later sprinkled boards to match (front joints cracking), the original printed title labels mounted on the front boards: all enclosed in two quarter morocco folding boxes. Some foxing in the text and on the single-page maps, otherwise generally clean. The splendidly produced offical acount of the Baudin expedition: this is the complete Partie Historique, without the rare Partie Navigation et Geographie, but here, most unusually, with 23 of the plates in both coloured and uncoloured state. The plates include 10 fine portraits of named Aboriginals by Nicolas-Martin Petit, a panoramic view of Sydney and 11 of natural history subjects, and one of the folding charts is the first detailed delineation of the entire Australian continent.