Voyage dans les Mers de l’Inde, fait par ordre du Roi, à l’occasion du passage de Vénus, sur le disque du Soleil …

2 volumes in-4º of I. xvj, 707, [1] bl. xiij, [3] pp. 13 pl. - II. xvj, 844, xvj, [4] pp. 14 pl.

Half green basane with corners, decorated smooth spines, yellow edges (Binding rubbed. Some foxing, some browning on some leaves, loss of paper on lower margin p37 vol 1, light soiling to the title of vol.2, some small stains )

First edition of this long and interesting scientific voyage to the East Indies and the Indian Ocean in which the author gives the history of this voyage, his astronomical observations, the detailed history of the astronomy of the Brames, the different routes to India, the meteorology, etc. with interesting details on India, China, the Philippines, Bourbon, Mauritius, Madagascar, etc.

The work is illustrated with 27 folding plates (deities, constellations, monuments and ruins of Pondicherry, plants, animals, maps, views and plans including View of a part of the ruins of Pondicherry in 1769 - Map of the surroundings of Pondicherry - Map of the road of Mr Legentil from Manila to Pondicherry - Map of the eastern part of the Strait of Malacca - Map of the western part of the Strait of Malacca - Map for the inclination of the Magnetized Needle... - Map of the eastern part of the Philippines - Map of the western part of the Philippines - Map of the different ports in the Philippines - Map of the city of Manila and its fortifications - Maps of the coasts of Madagascar - Map of the Baye d'Antongyl and the Isle Marotte - Quartier St Denis Isle de Bourbon 1762 - Maps of the Isle of France and Bourbon, etc. ).

Student of the astronomer Joseph Nicolas Delisle (brother of the geographer Guillaume Delisle) at the College de France, Guillaume Joseph Le Gentil De La Galaisière (1725-1792) was also the assistant of Jacques Cassini (known as Jacques Cassini II) at the Observatory in 1750. His work opened the doors of the Academy to him in 1753. At his request, and in order to determine with precision the distance between the Earth and the Sun, le Gentil embarked in Brest in March 1760 on the Berryer, a vessel of the Compagnie des Indes, for Pondicherry where he hoped to observe the passage of Venus on the disc of the Sun planned for June 6, 1761. Unable to dock there, the war having broken out between France and the United Kingdom (Seven Years War), he decided to stay and wait for the next transit scheduled for June 3, 1769. During these eight years, Le Gentil travelled all over India and the Indian Ocean, mapping, studying Indian astronomy, flora... Pondicherry having been returned to France in 1763 following the Treaty of Paris, Le Gentil settled there in 1768 and built an observatory from where he hoped to make his observations. But the bad weather on the long awaited day of June 3, 1769, prevented him from making his observations. Depressed, he decided to return to France where he arrived in 1771. Chadenat II, 6340; Boucher de la Richarderie V, 38; Brunet III, 940; Quérard V, 95