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Voyage historique de l Amerique meridionale fait par ordre du Roi d Espagne. Ou¬vrage. qui contient une histoire des Yncas du Perou et les ob¬servations astronomiques & physiques, faites pour determiner la figure & la gran-deur de la terre. Amsterdam & Leipzig, Arkstée & Merkus, 1752. 3 parts in 2 volumes. 4to. [14]f + 554p; [4]f + 332 (numbered 1-200, 193*-200*, 201-208, 201*-208*, 209-316)p + [3] + [4]f + 307(numbered 3-309)p + [3]p. Titles in red & black with elaborate vignettes of Spanish royal arms; 38 engraved folding charts (including double-page folding map of Ecuador), 17 engraved plates (1 repeated) inclusive of 2 frontispieces; 1 allegorical en¬graving incorporating arms of dedicatee + 2 large orna¬mental vignettes. Contemporary calf, gilt; worn; morocco labels; joints cracked but firm; worn. First French translation of the most comprehensive 18th century ac¬count of South America, the result if ten years travel and observation by a group of leading European scientists. The French academicians La Condamine, Bouguer, and Codin, conceived the idea of a voyage of ex¬ploration to the equinoctial countries of South America in order to de¬termine the shape of the earth by measuring degrees of a meridian near the Equator. A Spanish expedition under the command of the mathema¬tician Jorge Juan and the navigator Antonio de Ulloa set out to collect a great deal of varied information during its course, as a result of which the present work containing its findings became a primary source for the natural history of Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia. The fine series of folding charts represent maps and plans of vast stretch¬es of Latin America, including a large folding map of the eastern Pacific ranging from the coast of Mexico down to southern Chile, views of ma¬jor cities such as Cartagena de las Indias, Portobelo, Quito, Lima, Callao, Valparaíso, Concepción, and of Louisburg in Nova Scotia, pre-Colum¬bian antiquities, illustrations of scientific instruments and a moon-map. The decorative plates of native life and scenes taken from Inca history are engraved by Jacob Folkema, F. Morellon la Care, Duflos, and J. Punt after G. F. L. de Brie and B. Picart. The text includes descriptions of cod-fishing in Louisbourg (pp139-151) and in Newfoundland (pp157-172). The last section constitutes a full report on the astronomical observa¬tions and of land-surveying carried out during the expedition. 4 of the surveying charts are lightly browned, otherwise a very good, fresh set. Palau 125473; Sabin 36812. Seller Inventory # ABE-11477898624
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