VOYAGE DANS LES ROYAUMES DE SIAM DE CAMBODGE, DE LAOS; et autr parties centrales de L'Indo-Chine relation extraite du Journal Et De La Correspondence de L'Auteur par Ferdinand De Lanoye et Contenant 1 carte et 28 gravures by MOUHOT, Henri - 1883

Paris: Hachette, 1883. Quatrieme Edition (Biblioteque Rose Illustree). 8vo, pp. 331 + adv. With one folding map and 28 engraved full page plates. Bound with the original chipped paper wraps in modern full morocco. Spine a little faded, but a nice clean copy. From Wikipedia: "Henri Mouhot (May 15, 1826 - November 10, 1861) was a French naturalist and explorer of the mid-19th century. He was born in Montbéliard, Doubs, France - near the Swiss border, but spent his childhood in Russia and possibly, parts of Asia. He died near Naphan, Laos. He is remembered mostly in connection to Angkor. Mouhot's tomb is located just outside of Ban Phanom, to the east of Luang Prabang. Upon reading "The Kingdom and People of Siam" by Sir James Bowring in 1857, Mouhot decided to travel to Indochina to conduct a series of botanical expeditions for the collection of new zoological specimens. From his base in Bangkok in 1858, Mouhot made 4 journeys into the interior of Siam, Cambodia and Laos. Over a period of 3 years before he died, he endured extreme hardships and fended off wild animals, to explore some previously uncharted jungle territory. On his 1st expedition, he visited Ayutthaya, the former capital of Siam (already charted territory), and gathered an extensive collection of insects, terrestrial and river shells, and sent them on to England. In January 1860, at the end of his 2nd and longest journey, he reached Angkor (already charted territory) - an area spread over more than 400 km, consisting of many sites of ancient terraces, pools, moated cities, palaces and temples, the most famous of which is Angkor Wat. He recorded this visit in his travel journals, which included 3 weeks of detailed observations. These journals and illustrations were later incorporated into Voyage dans les royaumes de Siam, de Cambodge, de Laos which were published posthumously.