A Voyage To The South-Sea, Along The Coasts Of Chile and Peru, In the Years 1712, 1713, and 1714…

London: Printed for Jonah Bowyer, 1717. First Edition of the English Translation. The author, a French military engineer, was sent to South America to inspect and construct Spanish fortifications for defence against English and Dutch attacks. He was instructed by the French government to chart the Pacific coast of South America for possible French military use at a later date. His account of his journey includes significant geographical and scientific information, and interesting descriptions of Chile, Peru, the Falkland Islands, and Brazil, including a relation of a visit to Santa Catharina in 1712 shortly following Duguay-Trouin’s attack. Of particular value was Frézier’s charting of the major South American cities and harbours, which proved useful to contemporary and later navigators. Hill also noted that it was Frézier who introduced to France, from Chile, the ancestor of the modern strawberry. The English edition is especially of interest because it contains a postscript by Dr. Edmund Halley, discoverer of Halley’s comet, correcting some of Frezier’s geographical inaccuracies, and an important account of Jesuit Missions in Paraguay. The maps include North and South America showing Frézier’s route, the Islands of St. Vincent and St. Catherine, Tierra del Fuego, and towns and bays on the coast of Chile and Peru: Conception, Valparaiso, Santiago, Arica, Pisco, Callao, Lima, and St. Salvador, &c., while the plates depict native inhabitants, and local flora and fauna. Bell F1240. Borba de Moraes I p. 329. Cox II p. 267. European Americana 717/66. Goldsmiths’ 5338. Hill I p. 115. JCB 221. Kress S2746. National Maritime Museum I 324. Sabin 25926. 4to. pp. 7 p.l., 335, [9]index. complete with the leaf containing directions to the binder which appears to be wanting in most copies. . title in red & black. 37 engraved maps & plates (most folding, incl. frontis. map). music in text. woodcut ornaments & initials. A very good copy in modern paneled mottled calf (offsetting on frontis. map). elala5944