[Première édition française] James Cook - Troisième Voyage de Cook, ou Voyage à l’Océan Pacifique - 1785

COOK, Captain James (Translation by Demeunier)
Third Voyage of Cook, or Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, ordered by the King of England, to make Discoveries in the Northern Hemisphere...
Paris, Hôtel de Thou, rue des Poitevins, 1785 (M. DCC. LXXXV). With Approbation and Privilege of the King.

Edition in-8 in 4 complete volumes of the text:
* Tome I: 1 f. of title, [4]-cvi-417 pages (including the preface, the life of Captain Cook by Samwell and the general introduction).
* Tome II: 1 f. of title, [4]-522 pages.
* Tome III: 1 f. of title, [4]-552 pages.
* Tome IV: 1 f. of title, [4]-548 pages (containing the captain King’s journal, the tables and the vocabulary of the indigenous languages).

Pleine basane marbrée d’époque, dos à cinq nerfs ornés de fleurons et caissons dorés, pièces de titre en maroquin blond/doré et pièces de tomaison en maroquin noir (« TOM. I », « TOM. II », « TOM. III », « TOM. IV »). Très bel état d’ensemble . Usures légères d’usage aux coins et coiffes. Intérieur frais. Enrichi d'un bel ex-libris gravé d'époque ou du XIXe siècle : « Bibliothèque d’Alfred de la Sayette ».

This text relates the most ambitious — and tragic — of James Cook’s expeditions (1776–1780), conducted aboard the Resolution and the Discovery. Its principal objective was to find the mythical Northwest Passage via the Bering Strait. It was during this voyage that the British navigator became the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands (which he named the Sandwich Islands).
The most famous anecdote of this expedition took place on February 14, 1779 in Kealakekua Bay, Hawaii. After the islanders stole a boat, Cook landed ashore to take hostage the local chief Kalaniʻōpuʻu in order to force the restoration of the craft. The situation quickly degenerated on the beach: Cook was stabbed and beaten to death by the Hawaiian warriors at the water’s edge.

The French translation of this major work was entrusted by the French government to Jean-Nicolas Demeunier (marked « M. D****** » on the title page). Published at Hôtel de Thou in 1785, the tale of Captain Cook’s adventures captivated all of France, then in the midst of a craze for great Pacific voyages of exploration and the mythical « noble savage ».