Collected on the voyage of the French frigate, la Coquille, under the command of Louis Isidore Duperrey. la Coquille was originally built as a horse barge. He commanded la Coquille on its circumnavigation of the earth (1822–1825) with Jules Dumont d'Urville as second. René-Primevère Lesson also travelled on la Coquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. On their return in March 1825, Lesson and Dumont brought back to France an imposing collection of animals and plants collected on the Falkland Islands, on the coasts of Chile and Peru, in the archipelagos of the Pacific and New Zealand, New Guinea and Australia.
During the voyage the ship spent two weeks in the Bay of Islands in the north of New Zealand in 1824. On the return voyage to France, the ship sailed through the Ellice Islands (now known as Tuvalu).
The voyage was the result of a collaboration between Duperry and Jules Dumont d'Urville The two began to plan an expedition of exploration in the Pacific, an area out of which France had been forced during the Napoleonic Wars. France considered it might be able to regain some of its losses by taking over part of New South Wales. On 11 August 1822, la Coquille sailed from Toulon with the objective of collecting as much scientific and strategic i shipnformation as possible on the area to which it was dispatched. Duperrey was named Commander of the expedition because he was four years older than Dumont. Dumont discovered the Adélie penguin, which is named after his wife.
René-Primevère Lesson also travelled on la Coquille as a naval doctor and naturalist. On the return to France in March 1825, Lesson and Dumont brought back to France an imposing collection of animals and plants collected on the Falkland Islands, on the coasts of Chile and Peru, in the archipelagos of the Pacific and New Zealand, New Guinea and Australia. Dumont was now 35 and in poor health. On board la Coquille, he had behaved as a competent official, but disinclined to military discipline and subordination. On the return to France, Duperrey and Dumont were promoted to commander.
On la Coquille, Dumont tried to reconcile his responsibilities as second in command with his need to carry out scientific work. He was in charge of carrying out research in the fields of botany and entomology. la Coquille brought back to France specimens of more than 3,000 species of plants, 400 of which were previously unknown, enriching moreover the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris with more than 1,200 specimens of insects, covering 1,100 insect species (including 300 previously unknown species).
Illustrations of eight varieties of gastropodes collected on the voyage, some from Mauritius and New Guinea.
Stipple engraving printed in colour.
320 mm x 235 mm. (Plate line).
Good condition with 2 or 3 spots.