A Voyage Round the World, Between the Years 1816-1819 by Roquefeuil, M. Camille de - 1823

London: Sir Richard Phillips and Co, 1823. Hardcover. Good. First edition in English. Octavo, 112 pp, in marbled paper-covered boards and cloth spine with partial paper label. Ex-Santa Barbara Free Public Library, with early labels and stamps from that library, as well as an inscription on the title page reading "Public Library Sta Barbara [illegible] Col. John G. Kelley." Front hinge is cracked and has been reinforced with what appears to be archival tape. Binding is otherwise sound, text clean. Hill 1483: "This voyage commanded by Lieutenant Roquefeuil was only the second French expedition since that of Baudin in 1800-1804, and was the first voyage to be published since that earlier expedition. A voyage led by Josef-Cesar de Bourayne in 1806-1808 crossed the Pacific from Mauritius to Acapulco and back again, but there seems not to have been any published account of that voyage. French maritime exploration had been curtailed because of the revolution, and, later, the concentration of Napoleon Bonaparte on European conquests. Leaving Bordeaux, the Bordelais sailed to the Pacific and the west coast of North America. Attempts at trading to California, Nootka, and Sitka were financial failures. Despite lack of profit, however, France now had an up-to-date report on conditions on he west coast of America from California to the Aleutians, on Hawaii, the Marquesas, and on the prospects for trade in each of these areas. In the section on the northwest coast of America, Roquefeuil gives many details of the Indian inhabitants.