Ancienne Maison de Campagne de Koro-Koro. pres Kahou wera. Nouvelle Zelande

Paris, 1833. First edition. Black & white lithograph view of three Maoris on hill overlooking a village and bay in distance. (Bay of Islands) 39.5 x 22 cms. This is a chine collé print, printed on tissue and laid down on thicker paper. It is a printmaking technique in which the image is transferred onto a surface that is bonded onto a heavier support in the printing process. It is usually considered a precursor to the published image, sometimes as a proof plate. It can pull finer details off the plate. Official voyage blind tooled stamp below the title. Some light markings in margin o/w very good condition. Plate 55 from the official report of the voyage. "Voyage de la Corvette L'Astrolabe..." Under the comand of Jules Dumont D'Urville. New Zealand was a particular focus of the French expedition with 2 of the 5 volumes of the report dedicated to the discoveries there. It seems that this expedition was closely examining New Zealand as a possible French settlement by charting the coast as much as they did, a counter to Cook's surveys that made the British claim so strong.