1753 HISTOIRE des VOYAGES antique VOL. 43 PIRATE WILLIAM DAMPIER TRAVELS

HISTOIRE GENERALE des VOYAGES ou NOUVELLE COLLECTION de toutes les relations de voïages par mer et par terre, Qui ont ete publiees jusqu'a present dans les differentes Langues des toutes les Nations connues. by [PREVOST D'EXILES (Antoine Francois)] Vol. 43 Paris; 1753 DEDICATED TO WILLIAM DAMPIER TRAVELS to AUSTRALIA, and others Not illustrated Size 4 by 6 3/4 inches 530 pp. Original mottled calf, spine with raised bands and title label, decorated in gilt. Red edges, marbled endpapers Very good condition Text in French William Dampier (1651- 1715) was an English explorer, pirate, privateer, navigator, and naturalist who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also been described as Australia's first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Sir Francis Drake (16th century) and Captain James Cook (18th century); he "bridged those two eras" with a mix of piratical derring-do of the former and scientific inquiry of the latter. His expeditions were among the first to identify and name a number of plants, animals, foods, and cooking techniques for a European audience, being among the first English writers to use words such as avocado, barbecue, and chopsticks. In describing the preparation of avocados, he was the first European to describe the making of guacamole, named the breadfruit plant, and made frequent documentation of the taste of numerous foods foreign to the European palate at the time, such as flamingo and manatee. After impressing the British Admiralty with his book A New Voyage Round the World, Dampier was given command of a Royal Navy ship and made important discoveries in western Australia, before being court-martialed for cruelty. On a later voyage he rescued Alexander Selkirk, a former crewmate who may have inspired Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. Others influenced by Dampier include George Anson, James Cook, Horatio Nelson, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace. Antoine Francois Prevost d'Exiles (1697 – 1763), usually known simply as the Abbe Prevost, was a French priest, author, and novelist.