Bidspirit auction | Dampier's Nouveau Voyage autor du

Dampier's Nouveau Voyage autor du Monde - 5 Volumes with 49 Engravings - These five historic volumes are William (Guillaume) Dampier's Nouveau voyage autour du monde... or A New Voyage Round the World... The work was published in Rouen, France by Eustache Herauit in 1715. This work describing Dampier's voyages is celebrated as one of the greatest exploration and adventure tales written. The volumes are bound in contemporary mottled calf with gilt tooled spine and five raised bands. There are 49 total full page engravings, 16 of which are fold out. There are engraved images within the text as well. It does not appear that any plates have been excised, so though some counts of this work show 63 total engravings, this appears to be as issued, but also includes at least one map in triplicate (photos included). ILAB notes anomalies in the bibliographies / cataloging of this work often counting in text vignettes or repeated coastal profiles as well as irregular plate shipments. Wright Howes (renowned bibliographer) notes that this French publication has exactly 49 engravings. William Dampier (1651-1715) was born in England and was orphaned. He set out in 1679 and took to the seas as a pirate and sea captain before returning in 1691. He is noted as the first man to circumnavigate the world three times. He was also the first Englishman to explore parts of New Holland (Australia) and New Guinea. He's believed to have been the first Englishman to step on the Australian mainland. ”William Dampier combined a swashbuckling life of adventure with pioneering scientific achievements. In 1676, he started his career as a buccaneer preying on ships on the Spanish Main and struggling through the impenetrable jungle of the Isthmus of Panama in search of gold. He could easily have ended up on the gallows. Poor and obscure yet determined to sail the world to make his fortune, he was to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe three times. Among his many extraordinary achievements, Dampier mapped the winds and the currents of the world’s oceans for the first time. He inspired Darwin one hundred and fifty years later with his notes on the wildlife of the Galapagos islands and elsewhere. His portrait in London’s National Portrait Gallery shows a lean, strong-featured man with a thoughtful expression, brown shoulder-length hair and a plain coat, holding a book in his hand. He is styled ‘Pirate and Hydrographer’ but even that tells only part of his story. He was a pioneering navigator, naturalist, travel writer and explorer, as well as hydrographer who was, indeed, quite happy to seek his fortune as a pirate.” (Preston) Provenance: Inscription to front in one volume of Duport, 1875 Paper Size: ~ 4” by 6 5/8” Paper Type or Special Features: 5 Volumes with 49 Engravings