MAITRE (Henri). Mission Henri Maître (1909-1911), south-cent - Lot 140

MAITRE (Henri). Mission Henri Maître (1909-1911), south-central Indo-China. Les Jungles Moï. Exploration and history of the Moï hinterlands of Cambodia, Cochinchine, Annam and Bas-Laos. Preface by M. Stéphen Pichon. Paris, Emile Larose, 1912. Large In-8, (4)-IV-578 p., tables, 79 plates and 9 folding maps hors-texte, red half-chagrin with period corners, ribbed spine, gilt head, untrimmed, illustrated cover preserved (spine browned, nerves, corners and covers rubbed). First edition of the iconographic reference work on the Indochinese Highlands, explored between 1905 and 1914 by Henri Maître (1883-1914), corresponding member and chargé de mission of the Ecole française d'Extrême Orient. The illustrations include 43 figures in the text (drawings and plans based on the author's original sketches), 145 phototypes on 79 plates and 9 fold-out maps. "Between 1905 and 1908, [Henri Maître] carried out a first series of missions, the aim being to explore the entire high plateau to enable the colonial administration to carve out roads, build posts and subdue and federate the Proto-Indochinese. ( ) He returned to Sài Gòn on January 13, 1909. During a second series of missions, he refined his initial research, explored the southern high plateau, built posts and attempted to subdue the Mnông rebels of Yok Laych. In 1911, back in France, Maitre [ ] wrote his masterpiece, Les Jungles moï (1912), for which the Société de Géographie de Paris awarded him the Prix Pierre Félix Fournier (Le Roux 1997). (cf. Nicolas Vidal, "La fin d'un oubli : chronique de la (re)découverte de la tombe d'Henri Maitre", Moussons, 28 | -1, 247-263). Asian red stamp.