Loi Relative à M. De La Peyrouse : Et à L'impression Des Cartes, Lui EnvoyéEs, DonnéE à Paris, Le 4 Mai, 1791. Jean-FrançOis De La PéRouse

In-quarto broché sous couverture de papier ancien, 2 pages. Exemplaire en état parfait - PERFECT COPY LIKE NEW - Barthélémy CORDERANT, secrétaire du district de Versailles pendant les premières années de la Révolution a signé de sa griffe ou de sa main, la dernière page du document. - - - - - The National Assembly decree calling for the publication of all accounts and charts of the La Pérouse expedition. In this second of two La Pérouse decrees of 1791 the government commits to the publication of the maps and narrative for the official account of the voyage. The publication would be six years in the making, first appearing in 1797 as Voyage de la Pérouse autour du Monde, and would come to be regarded as one of the greatest narratives of maritime exploration ever published. This decree too is printed at the start of the official voyage account. The text of the decree makes special reference to La Pérouse's Australian landing and copious correspondence relayed to France throughout the voyage ('envoyées par M. la Peyrouse, de la partie de son voyage jusqu'à Botanibay.'); famously, La Pérouse's last report was forwarded by Governor Phillip from Port Jackson. Three different imprints have been recorded for publication of this decree-- Paris and Grenoble versions have been described as well as the present issue from Tours. The Paris issue is held by two Australian libraries (State Library of New South Wales and the National Library) and it is recorded by several bibliographers (Allen's Check List p. 10; McLaren 134; Ferguson 107), and also appears in the exhibition catalogue Centenaire de la mort de Lapérouse (Paris, 1888; number 48). However, the Tours and Grenoble imprints are both scarcer, and have escaped notice by the bibliographers mentioned.