LESQUIN, Guillaume

Relation du naufrage de la schëlette l'Aventure, de l'Île-de-France. Nantes, printed by Mellinet-Malassis, 1827. In-8 (203 x 127 mm) 52 pp. Half brown calf, smooth spine with red morocco title-piece, red edges (modern binding in the style of the period). Polak, 5907. First edition of the offprint, taken from the journal Lycée Armoricain. It is very rare. It contains the account of the young captain Lesquin (1803-1830), who went to sea to hunt elephant seals and sea lions. He left Mauritius on May 28, 1825 with the mission to land in the Crozet Islands to hunt mammals. The navigation was extremely difficult and he was shipwrecked at the East Island (Crozet Islands archipelago) from where the sailors were saved only on January 6th 1827. It was on his return to France that Lesquin wrote his account. Lesquin, who left to sail the oceans, died in Valparaiso on December 24, 1830. Title with trace of bookplate removed. Copy printed on large azure paper and bound in contemporary red morocco.