FREYCINET, Rose de Saulces de
Campaign of the Uranie (1817-1820) according to the original manuscript. Accompanied by notes by Charles Duplomb. Paris, Société d'Éditions, 1927. Large in-4 (285 x 225 mm) XIII, 190 pp, 1 f.n.ch. of table, 25 plates in colors. Paperback, original illustrated cover, modern mustard half-percaline folder and case.
Hill, 652.
Rare first edition, printed in an undetermined small number.
The first published version of the travel journal of Rose de Freycinet (1794-1832), the only major travelogue told from the point of view of a woman. This is the first edition of this famous diary of the voyage of Uranie, kept by its famous clandestine participant, the wife of the commander. Rose de Freycinet clandestinely boarded the ship, disguised in men's clothing, before the ship left Toulon in 1817. She returned to France three years later as a heroine after a voyage that took her to South America, South Africa, Mauritius, Western Australia, Timor, the Moluccas, New Guinea, the Carolinas, Guam, Hawaii and New South Wales. They survived ordeals ranging from an Algerian pirate attack to being wrecked in the Falklands, when the Uranie was wrecked in French Bay, forcing Freycinet to purchase the American ship Mercury for the return voyage to France.
Rose's diary was compiled from the journal she kept for a close friend, and supplemented for this publication by various letters written to her mother during the voyage. A keen observer, she gave an honest and direct account of the trip. Other descriptions of the trip mention her only with caution, as her presence on board was clearly against the rules. Her journal was not published in this form until a century after the voyage, and it has since served as the basis for several other books (including Marnie Bassett's Realms and Islands and Phoebe Vincent's A woman of courage: The journal of Rose de Freycinet on her journey around the world 1817-1820).
This fine publication is particularly noteworthy for the twenty-five beautiful color plates after original drawings by Arago and Pellion, including several famous Australian scenes. Hill comments that Madame Freycinet's presence caused some disruption among the crew, but she was immensely popular in most of the ports of call on the voyage, and she is now recognized as one of the great romantic figures of exploration. Although cautious about using her name in any official publication, Freycinet gave her name to Rose Island in the Samoan island chain as well as to "Cape Rose" in Shark Bay. Rose de Freycinet survived only twelve years after their return, dying of cholera in 1832.
Nice copy, well preserved.
