Search Results: Authors starting with L from Hordern House Rare Books

Stockholm: Johan Pfeiffer, 1799. A few light spots, but a very good copy.. Small octavo; in attractive contemporary Scandinavian half calf. Rare Swedish edition of the voyage of La Pérouse, whose fame was so widespread that there was a ready market for accounts of his voyage across Europe and beyond. Within four years of the publication of the official French edition in 1797, translations appeared in London, Edinburgh, Paris, Stockholm, Leipzig, Berlin, Copenhagen, Haarlem, St. Petersburg, Boston, and Amsterdam. This Swedish version was prepared by Samuel Ödmann from the octavo French edition. He also provides a preface. Not in the catalogue of the Hill collection; Ferguson knew the book only from copies in the Mitchell Library and the Kroepelien Collection, Oslo. .

Leipzig: no publisher, 1799. Octavo, with an engraved portrait, five plates and a folding world map; contemporary French mottled calf, spine gilt with raised bands. Abridged account of the La Pérouse voyage, published two years after the official edition. Although printed in a smaller format than the lavish (and handsomely priced) official edition, this book was aimed at voyage enthusiasts, advertising itself on the title-page as a supplement to La Harpe's series of voyage accounts. Although the title page attributes the abridgement to Jean-Francois de La Harpe, McLaren states it is actually the work of Charles Françoise de Villers. Rolf du Rietz confidently speculates 'the Leipzig imprint is probably fictitious.' The preface records all previous Pacific voyagers of any note, and includes a full list of persons who embarked with La Pérouse including officers, scientists, artists, sailors, engineers, artillerymen, carpenters, domestic servants and supercargo (dated July 1785). Only the National… Read More

Hamburg: J.G.Sn. Wichers, 1840. Some light staining throughout but essentially in good condition; the original wrappered binding is in good state having been preserved by a plain paper cover since discarded.. Octavo, 64pp; original printed dark blue wrappers; protective cloth case. Very rare: a gripping and romantic account of the survival of La Pérouse, describing his voyage into the far reaches of the Arctic, through the Bering Strait and turning north-east to the Pole, where he discovers a sunlit society ruled by women in this remote but beautiful 'New France.' The story is said to be based on the discovery of a pile of manuscripts on remote "Bricer Island" by an English doctor called Reidcliff, which recount in some detail the survival of La Pérouse and his escape from Vanikoro on La Boussole and his decision - rather under-explained - to sail up into the Arctic, where he abandons ship to continue into ever higher latitudes on foot. He and his crew are rewarded for their ardour by discovering… Read More

London: Charles Knight, 1830. Stipple engraving, 140 x 110 mm (plate size). There are relatively few portraits of La Pérouse from the life, due to his unexpected disappearance at sea following his coincidental meeting with the Australian First Fleet at Botany Bay in 1788. After establishing a friendly rapport with the English officers, La Pérouse refitted his ships and sailed for the Solomon Islands, but was never heard from again. Nothing was known of his fate until 1827 when the Pacific trader Peter Dillon found the clues that led to discovery of the wrecks at Vanikoro in the Solomons. His fame only increased as a result of the mysterious disappearance, and there were few images of him to satisfy public interest. This familiar depiction, much used subsequently, is based on a family portrait from the La Pérouse family house in Albi, SW France. .

Leipzig, 1799. Some wear to binding, front joint wearing and with small split; otherwise a very good copy. Octavo, frontispiece, five plates, and a large folding map; contemporary quarter calf, bookplate. Abridged account of the La Pérouse voyage, published two years after the official edition. Although printed in a smaller format than the lavish (and handsomely priced) official edition, this book was aimed at voyage enthusiasts, advertising itself on the title-page as a supplement to La Harpe's series of voyage accounts. Although the title page attributes the abridgement to Jean-Francois de La Harpe, McLaren states it is actually the work of Charles Françoise de Villers. Rolf du Rietz confidently speculates 'the Leipzig imprint is probably fictitious.' The preface records all previous Pacific voyagers of any note, and includes a full list of persons who embarked with La Pérouse including officers, scientists, artists, sailors, engineers, artillerymen, carpenters, domestic servants and supercargo… Read More

Milan: Dalla Tipgrafia Sonzogno e Comp, 1815. The marbled sides a little rubbed.. Four volumes bound in two, small octavo, with a folding world map outlined in colour and 16 hand-coloured plates; a nice set in contemporary quarter calf, flat spines gilt. Quite uncommon: the first Italian edition of the voyages of La Pérouse, with a lovely series of handcoloured plates based on the original images of Gaspard Duché de Vancy done for the official French edition. Part of their charm lies in the way that they have been simplified to suit the format of the Italian edition. The existence of this Italian edition is testament to La Pérouse's enduring fame throughout Europe, appearing as it did before even Captain Cook's voyages were translated (Navigazioni di Cook, 1816-17). It was almost fifteen more years before Peter Dillon published his discovery of the wreck of the Astrolabe and Boussole on Vanikoro and the map for this edition therefore still shows La Pérouse's track finishing at Botany Bay. The… Read More

Milan, 1825. In fine original condition.. Aquatint with original hand colouring, 340 x 390 mm, mounted and handsomely framed. Atmospheric coloured aquatint depicting an evocative scene from the staging of the "Ballet-Pantomime" based on the disappearance of La Pérouse in the Pacific. Between the complete disappearance of the expedition in 1788 and the discovery of relics in 1827, just a couple of years after this performance, the mystery had captivated Europe. (Famously Louis XVI is said to have repeated on his way to the scaffold the question that he had been asking for months: ''Is there any news of M. de La Pérouse?"). The disappearance inspired various highly imaginative performances or visualisations, and this scene was evidently one of the highlights from a very successful "pantomime" much performed in England and here being toured in northern Italy. As the caption notes the Naufragio was staged at the Teatrico Lirico in Milan (known as the Canobbiana until the 1890s). It starred the English… Read More

Paris: Didot Fréres, 1836. In good condition.. Engraving, 135 x 220 mm. Charming engraved plate depicting the memorial to La Pérouse erected by the Dumont d'Urville expedition to Vanikoro. The plate was published in Domeny de Rienzi's Océanie ou Cinquième partie du monde, revue géographique et ethnographique de la Malaisie, de la Micronésie, de la Polynésie et de Mélanésie (Paris 1836). This book condensed and clarified information and images from the great French voyages of the first decades of the nineteenth-century including Freycinet, Duperrey and Dumont d'Urville. .

Paris: Pillet, 1830. A little foxing yet excellent.. Two volumes, octavo, three lithographic plates (two folding) and chart of the island of Mannicolo, unopened in original green printed wrappers, housed in folding cloth case. A very appealing copy of the first French edition of the voyage which solved the riddle of La Pérouse, unopened in the original printed wrappers. Forty years after the disappearance of La Pérouse, Peter Dillon, a sandalwood trader, called at the Solomon Islands. When a silver sword guard was shown to him, he suspected that he might have accidentally discovered the solution of a mystery that had tormented the French for decades. At Vanikoro he found many relics including a portion of the stern of the Boussole, ships' bells stamped 'Bazin m'a fait', monogrammed silver, metal fragments and mill stones known to have been aboard. One islander (shown here on a folding plate) had a glass piece from a thermometer in his nose. In recognition of his discovery Dillon was made a… Read More

Paris: Firmin Didot, 1823. some foxing otherwise good. Octavo, 46 pp., in recent blue paper boards with morocco label. Very rare eulogy to La Pérouse published some thirty-five years after the disappearance of his two vessels, and a scant three years before the clues to the loss of the Astrolabe and the Boussole were discovered by the sandalwood trader Peter Dillon. Vinaty (sometimes 'Vinati') prepared the work for the Académie des Jeux-Floraux of Toulouse, where the eulogy won their prize l'Eglantine d'Or. The work is not only testament to the enduring importance of La Pérouse in the French-speaking world, it is also an interesting document of its time, because Vinaty shows a willingness to skip over the years of the Revolution and the rule of Napoleon. He is at pains to re-assert a continuity with the glory of France under Louis XVI, in the process presenting La Pérouse as a truly great French hero, but also as one capable of honouring the memory and achievements of Cook (a lengthy passage,… Read More

Livorno: Tipografia Vignozzi, 1827. Three leaves a little short at the margins (printer's error), a little foxing, but very good.. Three volumes, duodecimo, three frontispieces and three plates, all with good contemporary handcolouring; contemporary quarter roan binding, lettered in gilt, marbled boards with vellum tips. Attractive early Italian edition of La Pérouse's voyage, containing six charming coloured plates (three of which are not recorded in the standard bibliographies). The first of these unrecorded plates is a costume study captioned 'Uomo e Donna volgari della Concezione'; the second a view of Macao and the third depicts the death of botanist and savant Robert de Lamanon amidst a melée in Samoa during 1787. Neither Ferguson, Forbes nor McLaren note the three plates additional to the frontispieces. Forbes did not in fact manage to inspect a copy of the book. Ferguson cites his own copy, while McLaren consulted the Nan Kivell copy held by the National Library. This edition was part of… Read More

Paris: Chez Giguet et Michaud, 1805. Some occasional light foxing, hinges cracked but joints still strong.. Two volumes, octavo, engraved frontispiece and half-title in each volume; nineteenth-century mottled calf, gilt. First edition of Esmenard's epic poem on voyages of discovery generally, and La Pérouse specifically. The work includes a plate of the 'Naufrage des Canots de la Pérouse au Port des Français', showing the tragic events in Alaskan waters in 1786 when the expedition's boats got into serious trouble in (present-day) Lituya Bay with substantial loss of life. A hardy and experienced mariner himself, Esmenard composed the poem while under sail with Villaret-Joyeuse to Martinique. The epic poem demonstrates his broad knowledge of the voyages of the eighteenth century, with references to Bougainville, Malaspina, Byron, Wallis and Surville, as well as sections on the 'immortelle' Anson and 'sage et malheureux' Cook. The work is an homage to the great French sailor La Pérouse, 'maître du… Read More

Paris: H. J. Jansen, 1817. Some leaves in the atlas with restoration and scattered foxing, title page and five plates slightly smaller; a few leaves in the second text volume with light water-stains; otherwise fine.. Two volumes, quarto, and folio atlas; text volumes uncut; the atlas with engraved title, folding chart of the voyage and 43 engraved maps, and plates; text in marbled papered boards, atlas in contemporary quarter calf with marbled paper sides. The superbly illustrated narrative by the naturalist on the d'Entrecasteaux expedition, in which Australia was fully circumnavigated, if sometimes at a distance, and the islands surrounding investigated for traces of La Pérouse. Jacques-Julien Houtou de Labillardière (1755-1834), was a botanist and doctor of medicine, who had travelled widely in the Middle East: he was just finishing up his important botanical study of Syria when he was appointed to the d'Entrecasteaux voyage. He remains an important figure in early Australian science as the… Read More

Paris: at the author's expense, and Strasbourg, Amand Koenig; [part 2 also Turin and Frankfurt; part 3 Paris, Huzard, only], 1809. Uncut edges dusty, a few plates loose; overall very good.. Three parts bound together, quarto, pp. 22, 18, 16, with 30 engraved plates. ten to each part; uncut, stitched in contemporary plain wrappers. Rare and important early work by the notable French naturalist and explorer. Publication of this fundamental work, begun in 1791, would not be completed until two final parts appeared in 1812, the delay a direct result of Labillardière's involvement in the D'Entrecasteaux expedition in search of La Pérouse, and his commitment to writing the narrative of the voyage. Labillardière published three major floras: this botany of Syria, published in five parts over the 21 years between 1791 and 1812, bookended his magnificent Novae Hollandiae plantarum specimen (Paris, two volumes, 1804-06), the highly important first general flora of Australia. He also published a flora of… Read More

Paris: Paulin, 1843. A couple of dampstains in margins at start, worn at spine otherwise a fine copy.. Octavo, ms. inscription on title; in the original printed yellow wrappers. Presentation copy of the very rare first edition of this utopian hymn to hashish. In the early 1840s the French psychiatrist Moreau had begun studying the possible therapeutic applications of hashish, in the process installing himself as purveyor to the famous Club des Hachichins, an elegant coterie presided over by author and dilettante Gautier. But it fell to the well-known surgeon and republican socialist Lallemand to write the first European work to use the drug as its basic plot device. The work purports to be a translation from an Arabic manuscript which the author has discovered in his cabin whilst sailing for Marseille. It veers between the sensational and the doctrinal, particularly in its fundamental conceit that hashish not only provides consolation for the present, but an intimation and aspect of the future. This… Read More

Paris: Comptoir des Imprimeurs-Unis, 1848. Some foxing, becoming loose at gutters else a good copy. Octavo, uncut and mostly unopened; in the original printed yellow wrappers, Author's presentation copy of the second edition of Lallemand's rare tale of the coming society, and the first to attribute authorship. First published as Le Hachych in 1843, its new title here is more explicit as to its intents. This was the first European work to use the drug hashish as its basic plot device. The work purports to be a translation from an Arabic manuscript which the author has discovered in his cabin whilst sailing for Marseille. It veers between the sensational and the doctrinal, particularly in its fundamental conceit that hashish not only provides consolation for the present, but an intimation and aspect of the future. In the early 1840s the French psychiatrist Moreau had begun studying the possible therapeutic applications of hashish, in the process installing himself as purveyor to the famous Club des… Read More

London: Company of Stationers, 1614. Title-page discoloured with some loss of the fore-edge, neatly laid down, preliminary leaves thumbed, frayed at corners and generally a bit damped, last few leaves of the second book chipped at corners with seventeenth century manuscript notations; overall good in worn contemporary limp vellum with faint manuscript lettering to spine.. Two works bound together, small octavo; title, 634, [88] pp.; 94 pp. (Duties of Constables); contemporary limp vellum with faint manuscript lettering to spine. A handsome compendium of two early legal manuals: these early seventeenth-century handbooks of common law were prepared for local magistrates, at the time known as Justices of the Peace. The Eirenarcha was written by English magistrate and luminary William Lambard (1536-1601); the work is remarkable for its clarity, easy style and use of pragmatic precedent. The author was a Justice of the Peace for Kent and used his considerable personal experience to produce a common law… Read More

Melbourne: F. F. Baillière, 1862. Some wear and foxing.. Octavo, frontispiece and large folding map, handcoloured in outline; original yellow printed boards with linen spine; a very good copy. The quite rare superior form of the Baillière issue with the map handcoloured in outline and with the 16-page botanical appendix by Von Mueller. This is the first public printing of Landsborough's narrative based on official papers and reports. .

Melbourne: Wilson & Mackinnon, 1862. Octavo, engraved frontispiece and large fold-out map of Australia; linen-backed pink printed card boards. First edition, first issue. The map is uncoloured and was not issued with the botanical appendix found in the Baillière issue. .

London: Henry Colburn, 1813. Two volumes, quarto, xxi [3, blank] 362 [6, index]; [8] 386 [6, index] pp., with a frontispiece portrait, with 20 of 21 engraved plates (lacking the first plate to vol. 2), and a folding map. Half green morocco rather worn, neatly restored. First edition in English. Langsdorff was a physician and naturalist on board the first Russian circumnavigation of the globe on the Neva under Krusenstern. He went around Cape Horn to Kamschatka, making stops at the Marquesas and Hawaii. At Kamschatka, he left the expedition and proceeded on the Maria with Nicolai Rezanov, a Russian official who was commissioned to study the Russian American Company in Alaska and to conduct trade negotiations with Japan. Langsdorff states that, though they were politely but firmly refused, their Japanese visit was "the most interesting part of our expedition", devoting nearly 100 pages to their stay at Nagasaki. In their spare time they constructed a Montgolfier-type balloon and made the first aerial… Read More