DOUDART DE LAGREE (Ernest). Exploration and missions [...]. - Lot 60

DOUDART DE LAGREE (Ernest). Exploration and missions [...]. Extraits de ses manuscrits mis en ordre [...] sous les auspices de la société d'ethnographie. Paris, Vve Bouchard-Huzard, J. Tremblay, 1883. In-4, CXIV-(2)-684 p., 10 plates, publisher's silver percaline, title in black on front cover and spine (binding a little soiled and rubbed). First edition drawn up by Arthur Bonamy de Villemereuil based on the Doudart de Lagrée archives relating to the Mekong exploration mission promoted by the colonial government of French Cochinchina, whose main objective was to establish the navigability of the Mekong towards the Chinese province of Yunnan in order to open up a genuine trade route to China. The mission left Saigon on June 5, 1866 and returned to the same city two years later, on June 29, 1868. Command was entrusted to Commander Ernest Doudart de Lagrée, assisted by naval officer Francis Garnier. Doudart de Lagrée died in Toun-Tchouen, deep in the Chinese province of Yunnan, in 1868, aged 45. The illustration includes a frontispiece portrait of Doudart de Lagrée, a fold-out map and 8 plates. Limited edition without justification (n°13) on fine laid paper (Cordier, Indosinica, 1015).