VOYAGE HISTORIQUE DE L'AMERIQUE MERIDIONALE FAIT PAR ORDRE DU ROI D'ESPAGNE...

Amsterdam & Leipzi: Arkste'e & Merku, 1752. Two volumes. [22],554; [2],316,[6],[6],309,[3]pp., plus fifty-five plates and maps (most folding). Quarto. Contemporary speckled calf, spines gilt, leather labels. Hinges cracked, boards lightly worn and stained. Bookplates on front endpapers. Light scattered foxing and soiling. Good plus, with nice wide margins. First French edition, after the original Spanish of 1747. Sabin lists the French language edition as published in Amsterdam and Leipzig, with the note: "Some copies of this French translation have the imprint, 'Paris: Charles Antoine Jombert, MDCCLII'; this has given rise to the idea that an edition was printed there, which is not the case; there is merely a change in the title. The translator was M. de Mauvillon." This voyage to Peru was undertaken due to the desire of the French government to send members of the Academy of Sciences to measure a degree of longitude in the equinoctial countries of Peru. To share in the honor the King of Spain sent along his two most scientific-oriented officers, Ulloa and Juan. The text is illustrated with handsome engraved plates and maps of the region and the inhabitants. Much of the second volume is devoted to the Incas and their customs. COX II, p.275. HILL 1740. PALAU 125479. MEDINA, BHA 3464. FIELD 1587. SABIN 36812. BORBA DE MORAES, p.873 (ref)