GARNIER, Francis.
Voyage d'exploration en Indo-Chine effectué pendant les années 1866, 1867 et 1868 par une commission Française présidiée par M. le capitaine de frégate Doudart de Lagrée et publié dans les ordres du ministre de la marine sous la direction de M. le lieutenant de vaisseau Francis Garnier avec le concours de M. Delaporte, lieutenant de vaisseau et de MM. Joubert et Thorel, médécins de la marine, membres de la commission.
Paris, Librairie Hachette et Cie, 1873. 2 text volumes and 1 atlas volume in 2 parts. Large 4to text volumes, and folio atlas. With a lithographed portrait of Doudart de Lagrée, 53 full-page maps and views, and 157 illustrations in the text. The atlas with 69 lithographed maps, plans and views. Contemporary gold- and blind-tooled quarter red morocco, with the title lettered in gold on the spine, red cloth sides with blind tooled borders on the front and back, gilt edges, watered silk end papers. V, [3], 580, [4]; [6], 523, [5]; [6], XII pp.
€ 50,000
Rare first edition of a travelogue and scientific study of Indochina, published as the results of the French Mekong Expedition (1866-1868), the first European exploration of the Mekong river. Over the course of two years, the expedition would travel almost 9000 km between Saigon and Shanghai, and map over 5800 km of previously unknown terrain. The present work, written by one of the leaders of the expedition, was the first to introduce the Mekong river valley and southern China to Europeans. The results were considered so important, that the author was granted the Patron's Medal of the Royal Geographical Society in 1870, the highest award an explorer of any nation could receive.
France's colonial presence in Southeast Asia began in 1861 when Saigon fell into French hands after a two-year siege. From there, the French annexed Cochin china in 1862 and established a protectorate in Cambodia in 1863. However, the new colonies were not nearly as commercially successful as British Singapore and Shanghai, so the French realised they needed to find a way to trade with China via a solely French-controlled route. This is when they turned their eyes to the Mekong river, which flows from Southern China to the South Chinese Sea via Vietnam and Cambodia. This river, however, had never been fully explored. A small group of people was chosen to sail across the river and assess its navigability. Lead by Ernest Doudart de Lagrée (1823-1868), they set out on a steamboat in 1866.
Unfortunately, they realised the river was not navigable for trade after just a few days, when they reached the Khone falls and discovered that larger vessels would not be able to cross this section. Disappointed, they left the steamboat behind and continued upstream, shifting the focus of the expedition to scientific recordings, surveys, and notes on topography, physical geography, demographics and social observations of the river valley. Upon reaching China, they abandoned the idea of exploring the Mekong altogether, as it was clear to them now that this was not a viable trade route, and instead conducted a commercial survey of Southern China. Unfortunately, the group was plagued by exhaustion and disease by this point. Their leader, De Lagrée, fell ill and passed away. Francis Garnier (1839-1873) then assumed command and safely led the group via Shanghai back to Saigon.
The present work, published posthumously, was limited to just 300 copies. The first volume, written by Garnier, is a travelogue of the harrowing journey. The hundreds of woodcuts, after drawings made by Louis Delaporte, illustrate the monuments, landscapes, and people of Indochina. A second volume presents the scientific findings of the expedition and contains contributions on topics such as meteorology, geology, mineralogy, anthropology, and botany. The large-scale atlas volume contains numerous maps, and lithographs of the most spectacular of Delaportes drawings, including some in colour. 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 Wat in Cambodia being particularly impressive.
The edges and corners of the boards are very slightly scuffed, the hinges are slightly weakened, but the structural integrity of the bindings is still intact. The first and last few leaves of each volume are somewhat foxed, the work is slightly browned throughout, the first free end leaf of the first volume is slightly creased. Otherwise in very good condition. Cordier, Indosinica, pp. 1013-1014; Cordier, Sinica, p.329; Gomane, L'exploration du Mekong; Howgego 1850 to 1940, Continental exploration, pp. 340-343; Satow 147.
Related Subjects: