Voyage de la Corvette l'Astrolabe execute par ordre du roi, pendant les annees 1826-1827-1828-1829.

Paris, Tastu, 1830-1835. . First edition. A complete set, comprising twenty-one 8vo and four 4to text volumes and 6 large folio plate volumes (53.5 x 36 cms and Atlas Hydropgraphique 66 x 50 cms). Text in original wrappers and atlases in contemporary green morocco-backed boards (Atlas Hydrographique bound later to match), the plate volumes with 6 engraved titles, portrait, and 576 engraved plates, some 261 of these hand-coloured, a splendid set. Comprising:

DUMONT d'URVILLE, 'Histoire du voyage', 1830-33. 5 vols in 10, 8vo (each vol. in 2 parts). 'Atlas historique', 2 vols, with 2 engraved titles, lithographic portrait, list of plates, 8 maps, and 247 lithographic plates (of which 53 wholly or partly hand-coloured); 8 plates with short marginal tears repaired, occasional light foxing or old water-stains.

LESSON & RICHARD, 'Botanie', comprising I: 'Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelles Zelande', 1832; II: 'Sertum Astrolabianum', 1834. Atlas vol. with engraved title and 79 engraved plates (of which 7 in colour), list of plates at end; [bound after] 'Entomologie' atlas with engraved title and 12 hand-coloured engraved plates; 2 plates browned.

BOISDUVAL, 'Entomologie', comprising I: 'Lepidopteres', 1832; II: 'Colepteres', 1835; [bound with] 'Botanie' (see above). 2 vols 8vo text.

QUOY & GAIMARD, 'Zoologie', 1830-35. 4 text vols in 6, 8vo. Atlas: 2 vols, with engraved title, 7 pp. list of plates, 193 engraved plates (of which 186 wholly or partly printed in colours and/or hand-coloured); the unlisted mammals plate 21 bis on India paper with repairs to upper margin, plate 73, molluscs, repaired along the plate line, some light damp-staining.

DUMONT d'URVILLE, 'Philologie', 1833-34. 2 vols.

DUMONT d'URVILLE, 'Observations meteorologiques, hydrographiques [2 vols], et de physique', 1834, 1833. Together 4 vols 4to. Atlas Hydrographique with engraved title, 25 pp., 42 engraved maps, charts, and plans (of which 20 double-page), some showing 2 or more subjects, 3 coastal profiles with additional hand-colour; some light scattered foxing.
Extremely rare and desirable set of the first edition of d'Urville's voyage in the Astrolabe.

The zoology section was produced by Jean René Constant Quoy and Joseph Paul Gaimard. The 31 fine plates of birds are engraved, printed in colours, and often finished by hand. The artists included Prêtre, Prévost, and Oudart, widely regarded as some of the finest bird artists of their time. As well as the superb plates, 'the general indices in vol. iii are also of importance for the use of ornithological matter of the work in which a number of new species of birds are described' (Anker).

This important voyage was one in a great series undertaken by the French government in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries for scientific and political purposes. Led by Jules Dumont d'Urville, its intention 'was to gain additional information about the principal groups of islands in the Pacific and to augment the mass of scientific data acquired by Louis Duperrey. The Astrolabe sailed south, around the Cape of Good Hope, and arrived at Port Jackson. Proceeding to New Zealand, its coast, especially the southern part of Cook Strait, was surveyed with great care. Tonga and parts of the Fiji Archipeligo were explored, then New Britain, New Guinea, Amboina, Tasmania, Vanikoro, Guam and Java. The return home was by way of Mauritius and the Cape of Good Hope. Huge amounts of scientific materials were collected and published' (Hill).
Anker, 410; BM (NH) II, p603; Borba de Moraes I, 273; Brunet II, 881; Ellis (Early Prints of New Zealand, 1978), p43; Ferguson 1341; Fine Bird Books p92; Hill 504; Nissen (BBI), 555; Nissen (IVB), 752; Nissen (ZBI), 1199; Ronsil 940; Whittell p216.