Jean-François de La Harpe - J.-F. de La Harpe – Abrégé de l’Histoire générale des voyages – Bände XVII & XVIII – 959 Seiten – - 1820

Two related, over 200-year-old travel volumes from Jean-François de La Harpe’s “Abrégé de l’Histoire générale des voyages,” Paris 1820 – in decorative full-leather bindings and with identical historical provenance “Mila de Cabarieu.”

Offered are Volume XVII and Volume XVIII of:

Jean-François de La Harpe – Abrégé de l’Histoire générale des voyages
Nouvelle édition, revue et corrigée with the utmost care, and accompanied by a fine atlas in folio
Paris, at Étienne Ledoux, Librarian, 1820.

The complete edition comprised 24 text volumes and a separately planned Atlas. This offer concerns exclusively the two volumes XVII and XVIII; the Atlas and the remaining volumes are not present.

Contents and scope

Volume XVII: 471 pages
Volume XVIII: 488 pages
Together: 959 numbered pages, in addition to unnumbered front and back matter.

Particularly interesting is Volume XVII with the section “Voyages autour du monde et dans le Grand Océan.” It covers numerous significant explorers and circumnavigators, including:

Magellan, Mendaña, Drake, Cavendish, Quiros, Schouten, Tasman, Dampier, Woodes Rogers and Roggeveen.

The two volumes thus constitute interesting original sources for travel, exploration and cultural history from the perspective of the early 19th century.

High-quality historical bindings

Both books have matching full-leather bindings with elaborate gold tooling.

Especially decorative are the richly ornamented spines with:

* large-scale floral and scale-like gold tooling
* red, gold-lettered spine labels “LAHARPE – HISTOIRE GÉNÉRALE DES VOYAGES”
* separate red numbered labels 17 and 18
* additional gilded ornaments
* around-the-edge gold-embossed borders on the covers
* historically marbled endpapers

Together on the shelf the two volumes form a very attractive ensemble.

Historical provenance – “Mila de Cabarieu”

Particularly noteworthy is the identical provenance of both books.

In both volumes there is the same heraldic ex libris:

“EX LIBRIS – MILA DE CABARIEU”

The ex libris shows a crowned coat of arms with a bird motif and an order emblem.

Additionally, the title pages bear the old handwritten ownership mark:

“Mila de Cabarieu”

The ex libris and ownership note document that both volumes historically belonged together and came from the same library.

No further identification or biographical assignment of the former owner is claimed.

Bibliographic details

Author: Jean-François de La Harpe (1739–1803)
Title: Abrégé de l’Histoire générale des voyages
Edition: Nouvelle édition, revue et corrigée
Vols: Tome XVII and Tome XVIII
Publisher: Étienne Ledoux, Libraire
Place: Paris
Year: 1820
Extent: 471 + 488 = 959 numbered pages, plus unnumbered leaves
Language: French
Binding: Full leather with rich gold tooling
Provenance: Ex libris and handwritten ownership mark “Mila de Cabarieu” in both volumes
Atlas: not present

Condition

For two books from 1820 overall attractive age-appropriate condition.

The richly gilded book spines are particularly decorative and the gold tooling is still well preserved. The leather bindings show aging and wear, rubbing and minor damage, especially at corners, edges and crown.

Inside, age-appropriate preservation with some staining, browning and signs of use. The illustrated pages show an overall clean and readable print.

The numerous photographs are expressly part of the description and condition assessment. Please examine them carefully; they document the actually offered copy, including binding, spine, title pages, ex-libris and visible age- and wear-related signs.