Autograph letter signed, to Vicomte Charles Morel de Vinde regarding the d'Entrecasteaux voyage publication

A friendly letter from Paul-Édouard Rossel to the Vicomte Charles Morel de Vinde, agronomist, politician, and man of letters, expressing his hope that a set of the d'Entrecasteaux voyage publication, with accompanying atlas, will be well received. The letter was sent during the peace established by the first Treaty of Paris (signed in May 1814).

Rossel had edited the official account of the d'Entrecasteaux voyage for publication, a process which took many years due to the political fall-out from the Revolution. By the time the expedition had reached Dutch Java Rossel was the commanding officer, and despite his inexperience "was to prove a resourceful and able commandant in a passage that had perils and hardships in store" (Horner, Looking for La Pérouse, p. 194). However, Rossel was also a royalist, with the result that he was sidelined for many years. Only in 1808, after several years in exile in England, did he publish the magnificent official account of the voyage, from d'Entrecasteaux's original journals.

This letter originally accompanied a gift of "les deux gros volumes et l'atlas que j'ai l'honneur de lui envoyer", with the hope that it will take pride of place in Morel's library. The Vicomte was certainly an influential figure, a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences, who had also had a few narrow escapes because of his political allegiance. He is known to have had a magnificent library.