Garnier, Marie Joseph Francis. Rare complete set of the first edition of the official printed record of the most important 19th-century exploratory expedition into Indochina

GARNIER, MARIE JOSEPH FRANCIS
VOYAGE D'EXPLORATION EN INDO-CHINE EFFECTUÉ PENDANT LES ANNÉES 1866, 1867 ET 1868. PARIS: LIBRARIE HACHETTE, 1873

Together 4 volumes. Text: 2 volumes, large 4to (13 1/4 x 9 3/4 in.; 337 x 248 mm). Titles in red and black, half-titles, portrait frontispiece, 1 plate of medals, 12 maps and charts, 4 of which colored, and 6 of which tinted, numerous illustrations, 39 of which full-page. Contemporary French dark blue morocco-backed marbled paper-covered boards, spines with raised bands in six compartments, second and third gilt lettered and numbered, previous owner's name ("Philastre") tooled in gilt at foot of each spine. Atlas: 2 volumes, folio (19 1/2 x 15 in.; 493 x 381 mm). 12 maps, 2 of which double-page, 9 plans, 2 of which double-page, 1 tinted lithographic aerial view, 48 plates on 40 sheets, 6 of which double-page, 2 engraved, and 10 hand-colored lithographs, 1 chromolithograph, and 27 tinted lithographs. Original dark blue cloth-backed pale blue paper-covered boards, letterpress titling to upper covers, longitudinal gilt lettering to the flat spines.

A rare complete set of the first edition of the official printed record of the most important 19th-century exploratory expedition into Indochina

This first edition was limited to 300 copies. The maps are after Garnier himself, whilst the views are taken from sketches by the expedition artist Louis Delaporte. These views, in conjunction with the fine illustrations in the text volumes, form a valuable and remarkably wide-ranging visual record of Indochina as a whole, with the depictions of the ancient capital of Laos at Viet Chan and Angkor in Cambodia being particularly impressive.

Garnier was part of the French expedition under Captain Ernest Doudard de Lagrée which set out from Saigon in 1866 to explore the valley of the Mekong River in the hopes of finding a navigable route into south-western China. Garnier took command of the mission when de Lagrée died and he safely led the expedition to the Chinese coast via the Yangtze River. The expedition traversed almost 5,400 miles travelling through Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, mapping over 3,600 miles of terrain previously unknown to Europeans, and becoming the first westerners to enter Yunnan by a southern route. Subsequently, Garnier returned to France a hero, fought in the Franco-Prussian war, and finished the present account of the expedition before eventually returning to Indo-China to establish a colony in Tonkin.

The name at the foot of the spines of the text volumes offers the intriguing possibility that the original owner of this set was Paul-Louis-Felix Philastre: naval officer, diplomat and French expert on the Far East. He first arrived in Cochinchina in 1861, and, after the death of Francis Garnier, it was he who, in 1861, negotiated a treaty with the emperor Tu Duc recognising the sovereignty of the Annam empire over Tonkin. Later, Philastre served as French ambassador to Cambodia, and he was also responsible for the first French translation of the Yi king.

REFERENCE:
Cordier, BS 329; Cordier, BI 1012-1013

PROVENANCE:
Paul-Louis-Felix Philastre? (binding)

Condition Report:
Condition as described in catalogue entry.